


Poppies.

by Just_Another_Weirdo



Series: Holes and poppies, what could go wrong? [2]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Orphanage, Angst, Deceit | Janus Sanders Has a Different Name, Diary/Journal, Erik simping respectfully for once in his goddamn life, Fire, Gen, Harm to Animals, Hurt Deceit | Janus Sanders, I'll Explain Later, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Logic | Logan Sanders Needs a Hug, Oblivious Logic | Logan Sanders, Original Character(s), Panic Attacks, Past Child Abuse, Remus sanders is a himbo, also dnd inaccuracies, background characters are all references to the phantom of the opera, but also no?, i'll add tags as i go, no I will not take criticism about it, poppies, weird magical shit happening
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-28
Updated: 2021-03-03
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:21:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 34,698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27242605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Just_Another_Weirdo/pseuds/Just_Another_Weirdo
Summary: Fourth of November, 2019, 3:46 am, new bedroom’s chambers.The moment Janus should've realised there was something wrong with this place.Remus finds five journals. He regrets using them later.
Series: Holes and poppies, what could go wrong? [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1989082
Comments: 58
Kudos: 7





	1. Fourth of November, 2019, 3:46 am, new bedroom’s chambers.

**Author's Note:**

> Please tell me if you think something else should be tagged. I'm not good with tags.
> 
> Hope you enjoy, leave a comment and I'll try to upload next week on time!

Fourth of November, 2019, 3:46 am, new bedroom’s chambers.

I had to wait until Remus went to bed. I didn’t him to see me writing here.

Not that I’m going to keep this as a secret! It’s just…

It’s stupid, not what I intended to write right now.

We arrived about five hours ago? Six hours? Time is a social construct (says the guy who writes the exact time and date)

We’re at some sort of private school. It’s one of those old “founded in 1879” orphanages turned into private school. Like, there’s legit vines growing on the walls and crow nests and all that stereotypical haunted victorian house.

The headmistress is… odd. She was nice, don’t get me wrong (why am I writing here as if I was talking to someone?). But she had this feeling, like when Patton is nice to someone he despises because he has to. I hope my gut feeling is wrong, like it always is.

We arrived too late to be divided into age groups, so we’re sleeping in a provisional extra room. Apparently this place is for two kind of kids. Rich kids whose parents don’t want to deal with, or kids who have gotten in legal trouble. Or even worse, a messy mixture of both categories.

Tomorrow I’ll be introduced to my class and handed a ton of homework and exams to catch up with, so I guess I’ll be using this journal as a de-stressing mechanism. Luckily for me, one year and I can go do whatever the fuck I want to do with my life.

I just have to survive one year.

Why does it sound more scary than it should be?

Anyways, the Twins and Virgil are probably ending in the same class, and poor Logan is going to have to deal with people his age. Which will be hell for him, considering he’s the most mature out of the whole group. What a weird twelve year old.

The provisional room is… nice? It’s cold and the blankets don’t warm me enough, but I think I just got used to the heat of Camp Nightmare, so maybe it’s just me. No one else seemed bothered by it.

Yeah, it’s probably just me.

The window is open. I should close it.

Ok, not closing the window! In fact, not getting near that shit ever again! God, who the fuck leaves kids in a room with a broken window that nearly _beheads_ me? Like, for fuck’s sake, it was almost as if the broken glass was waiting for me to fall down.

I’m just going to search in the wardrobe for more blankets.

There aren’t any. And it’s dusty in here, don’t they hire cleaning service? (Which is severely underpaid for all the work they do, they definitively need to raise their wages. Specially since this is a private school that can do whatever they please.)

I should really go to sleep. Even Remus is asleep already, and he’s Remus. The group’s insomniac.

I’ll hide you, dear journal that’s never going to reply to me, under my pillow. You’ll be safe there. It’s where I used to hide the things I didn’t want father to find, and it worked so far.

~~If father is still alive, I won’t be free until I’m eighteen.~~

~~I hope he’s still alive.~~

~~But I don’t want to go back to him.~~

Why do I miss mom so much today?

Imma go to bed before it gets even later.

—Janus D.C.–

[There’s a little doodle of a bed, a person drooling as Z’s are coming from their mouth. The name Remus is scribbled under the drawing.]


	2. Good morning, first class time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fourth of November, 2019, 9:02am, middle of English class.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look, I have no patience to wait for Wednesday, have this, enjoy, give me dopamine.

Patton jumped off the bed the second he woke up. He searched through his backpack for his clothes and started changing up. It was the first day of school! Normal school! He was going to learn stuff!

He nudged Logan awake and handed him his glasses. He didn’t wait to decipher Logan’s grumbles and moved towards Virgil’s bed. He was flipped off before he was able of poking him awake.

“Virgil, you can’t do that here!” Patton said, placing his hands on his hips. “Headmistress Hudson won’t approve of foul language, nor gestures!”

Virgil poked his head from the messy cocoon he had made with the blanket. “The headmistress isn’t here. I’ll do as I please.”

He sat up, just in time to dodge the pillow Roman had sent his way.

“Keep it down, I’m trying to sleep myself to death.” He grumbled, hiding his head under his blanket.

“Just jump off the window, you’ll die faster.” Remus said, bolting up from his bed. “Wow, this is the first time I actually _slept_ through the whole night!”

Roman grumbled something else, holding onto the blankets tighter. Patton sat at the feet of the bed, nudging him.

“Come on, Ro, we can’t be late for our first day!” He said, gently pulling the blankets away from Roman.

“Noooooo, treason! My blanket!” Roman said, letting go of the blanket and arching his back against the bed. He then dramatically ‘died’, making a bleh sound and going limp.

“Dramaqueen.” Virgil accused as he fought his pajama pants off. “Someone go wake Dee, I can’t believe he’s still sleeping with everyone making noise.”

“I did not make noise” Logan pointed out, as he struggled to chose whether to wear the nasa shirt or the one with white stripes.

“Ok, everyone but Logan” Virgil said. “Sorry Specs, you know we love you.”

“I know” Logan said, smiling. He decided the nasa one looked better on him.

Patton was going to head to Eden’s bed, yet Remus was faster.

He screeched to the top of his lungs as he jumped on the bed, throwing him and Eden off into the ground.

“What the actual FUCK, Remus?!” Eden shouted, pushing him off him.

Remus laughed, pulling Eden to his feet. “Come on, you can’t tell me you weren’t awake already.”

“I wasn’t.” Eden said, bracing himself in an attempt of warming himself. “It’s already morning?”

“Indeed.” Logan said. “You should change.”

Eden scoffed. “Like I have more clothes than this. I’ll wait until we’re given the uniform.”

Virgil frowned. He asked and searched through his back pack. He threw a black jacket at Dee with no second thought.

“Wear this. You’re gonna catch a cold, and god knows Dad will die of worry if that happens.” He said, turning back to make his bed.

Remus saw this and laughed. “You’re actually making your bed?”

“Well, duh” Virgil said, without looking at him. He just continued to fight for the blanket to be smooth.

“Why bother? We’re gonna be in different rooms by noon.” Roman said. He threw the blanket to the bed. That was good enough.

“Oh, wait, did you two just agree on something?” Eden asked, pointing to the Twins. “Am I dreaming, or what?”

Virgil and Patton laughed, and Eden even thought he heard Logan scoff under his breath.

There was a knock on the door, and everyone turned to face it.

Headmistress Hudson stood there, the same smile than yesterday plastered into her face. A smile that never quite reached her eyes, but was close to do so.

“Children.” She greeted “breakfast is in ten minutes. After that, you’ll be assigned to groups and new bedrooms, and handed your delayed homework and your new time schedule.”

Without waiting for a response, she left.

“Welp. She looks dead inside” Remus said, causing everyone to at least smirk.

“Come on, guys, we have to get ready.” Patton said. “We’re finally going to school!”

“Yay…” Virgil muttered, looking as if he’d rather be having a dance competition with satan himself.

Eden scoffed and grabbed his ragged backpack. He hesitated for a moment before discretely grabbing his journal from under the pillow and shoving it inside. He’d rather have it near to him until he gets a new room.

“Come on, gays,” Remus said “let’s go eat actual good food.”

“Oh, gods, how much I missed good food.” Logan said, grabbing his backpack.

“Mood.” Said Eden, as they made their way to the cafeteria.

Fourth of November, 2019, 9:02am, middle of English class.

There was not good food. But at least it wasn’t the same porridge with boxed orange juice than from before.

I have been assigned to the class 4D. It’s a… quiet class. Which is a surprise.

Never mind, it’s not so quiet, apparently there are two more new kids apart from me. They’re loud.

Too loud.

My tutor is the English teacher, Yolanda Brown. I don’t think she knows what she’s doing. But considering that I haven’t been in school for three? Four? Years, I don’t think I should be the one to judge.

I have… a lot of homework to catch up with. No especial assignments, luckily, but I have five exams I’ll have to be taking through the month.

I’m a little scared of being caught writing here, but I just. I need to do so. And Ms Brown is only correcting homework I haven’t done, so…

Maybe I’ll start do my load of homework I have to do.

The new classmates are a pair of brother and sister. The brother is so loud, and rude, and god, I want to defenestrate him. He’s giving me rich boy vibes. Probably because he has a new and clean uniform. I have to wear the old one that the school provides. Yay.

I think his name is Louis. Fancy name for fancy boy, I guess.

The sister is less loud, but she keeps staring at me. Like, yeah, I’m used to being stared at, but so unashamedly? That’s… creeping me out. A lot.

Ok, she just sent me a note. From the other corner of the room. How did the teacher not notice?

Her name is Esther. She asked what happened to my face.

I’m ignoring her.

She’s throwing me more notes. If she keeps this up Imma snap.

–Janus D.C.–

[There’s a doodle of a butterfly and a paper plane]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed, leave a comment if you like me!


	3. Detention.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Remus gets lost to his way to detention room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do I know how detention works? No.  
> Do I know how anything related to the American school system works? No.  
> But it's a private school, so Imma do what I want.
> 
> Enjoy!

Remus looked around at class. It was… quiet. He looked at Virgil, who was trying to copy what the math teacher was writing on the blackboard, at the same time he tried to do the ton of homework they had to do. Roman was drawing in the margins of his math notes. At least he was taking notes.

Remus found it useless to take notes now without reading the notes from before. He wouldn’t understand much after reading his classmate’s notes, so listening now would only be unproductive.

He looked through the papers he had been given by several of his classmates. They started pretty neat, with colours and diagrams, everything making the information clearer. Then as he passed them, the pages started blending, all with the same dull handwriting and no colour. They must have been written by the same person. What a bland person.

Remus tsked as he started copying the first unit down. They were already on unit four, even though school had just started. Remus would have to be fast. He was going to hate school, wasn’t he?

He was midway through the last point of the unit one, when he heard a tapping on his table. He looked up to face the teacher, who was staring at him with a disappointed look.

“Yeah?” He said, feeling tiny compared to the man towering over him.

“I asked you a question, mr. Kingsley. Answer it.” The teacher said.

Remus shot his brother a panicked glance. Roman looked him in the eye before facing down.

“Mr. Kingsley. Answer the question.” The teacher said, tone becoming more harsh.

“I, eh… didn’t hear well the question.” Remus said. “Can you repeat it?”

“You would’ve heard the question if you had been paying attention.” The teacher said. “Why weren’t you?”

Remus shrugged. “I was making a fair copy of the last units. Didn’t think I’d understand shit without the previous content.”

“Young man, that language is unacceptable!” The teacher said, finally showing more emotion than just cold disgust.

“What? Shit? I’ve said worse. Like fuck. Motherfucker. Goatfucker.” Remus said. He saw Virgil shot him a warning glance from his seat.

“That’s it. To detention with you.” The teacher said.

“It’s a word, you don’t have to make such big deal about it…” Remus said, grabbing his papers and tossing them into his bag without much order.

He took his bag, shot Roman a smudge look and left the room with a smirk on his face.

Now, where in hell was the detention room?

Fourth of November, 2019, 9:07am, detention.

Ok, snapping was a bad idea. I got sent to detention. With the goddamn girl. God, she’s annoying.

I think her name is Samantha. Another fancy name for a snob girl. At least she’s no longer speaking to me because the teacher here is really strict with talking.

Detention room looks really old. In the sense that it looks as if no one had been taking care of it. At all. The teacher’s desk might be the only thing clean. My desk is filled with drawings and carvings, and I sadly touched by accident one bubble gum that must have been here since before I was born. Gross. And the ground is filled of dirt. Literal dirt, someone hasn’t cleaned their shoes when walking here. I’m pretty sure there’s at least three spider webs in this room.

Ok, I need to stop writing here. The teacher is telling me to do something useful.

Guess it’s time to start doing homework.

I’ll write in you later, diary who is still not going to respond.

–Janus D.C.–

[There’s a small doodle of a spider smiling]

Remus looked at the doors across the corridor. They were all the same.

He started trying every doorknob. He didn’t have anything better to do, anyways.

Most of them were closed. So when he managed to open one, he fell into the class.

He groaned as he stood up again, trying to brush the dirt off his new pants. Really, the school could afford to sweep the floors more often.

The door closed behind him, and Remus had to bite his tongue not to scream at the top of his lungs.

He looked around, trying to make sense of the dark shapes around him. A breeze made him shiver. There had to be a window near, then. No window no breeze, right?

Then, if there was a window, why wasn’t there any light?

Remus stumbled to open his bag open, hearing his heart beat harder than it should. He cursed as papers fell off, his search getting more and more frantic until he found what he was looking for.

He turned on his phone’s light, illuminating the room he had just entered.

It was a library. Remus had gotten so shaken up for a fucking library.

He cursed once more, getting the papers from the ground. They had scattered around the floor. Great.

He got on his knees, holding the phone with one hand as he struggled to collect the papers with the other.

Once he had finished, he looked around the room. It was filled wall to wall with bookshelves, although only one of those bookshelves had books on it.

Remus didn’t notice the fact that there was no window.

He walked to the bookshelf, running a hand through the spines of the books. They seemed old.

Remus thought of Logan for a second, how he almost had finished his book. Maybe one of this could catch his attention.

He grabbed one by the spine, and the spine fell off. He stared at the book for a few seconds before placing the spine where it was supposed to be. No one had to know.

He was more careful with the next one, getting one of the five that were piled in the lowest shelf. He opened it, slow enough to stop if he heard a crack. The first page was empty. So was the next. And the next. The whole book was empty.

A journal, then.

Remus set it inside his backpack and grabbed the next one with the same care than before. Being so slow was hard, but he didn’t want to break any other book.

The second book was blank as well. He checked the other three. All blank.

It was a shame, they had a beautiful leather cover and the texture of the paper was so soft. They would be lovely if they were filled with words.

An idea passed through his mind and soon enough Remus was carefully shoving their new set of journals into his backpack.

He stood up again, illuminating the spine of the rest of the books. He still wanted to get Logan something to read. There was only one problem. The spines didn’t have any tittles. Only drawings.

His eyes went through the drawings, before settling into one of flowers. Red flowers, those you could grab in the street. Those you used to play the game were you had to guess if they were going to be red or a rare white one.

Remus didn’t remember the name of the flower. He was never good with names anyways.

His hand reached to grab the book.

He got pulled back and landed on his feet. His phone fell off his hand.

Remus lunged back to grab it. He scrambled to his feet, turning to see who had touched him.

A professor, Remus guessed, stood in front of him. She had a frown in her face and a torch in her hand.

“What are you doing here?” She asked.

“I, eh, fuck, I was searching for the detention room, but I got distracted.” Remus said. He waited for the teacher to say something. She didn’t. She just stared at him. “Sorry?” Remus tried again.

“Did you grab any of the books?” The teacher asked again, ignoring Remus’s explanations.

“No.” Remus said. He hoped Dee had rubbed on him. He had never been a good liar.

“Go to detention.” The teacher said, visibly relieved. “Now. Don’t come back in here ever again. It’s an off limits area.”

Remus didn’t need to be told twice. He sprinted through the now open door and kept running until he found the door with the label detention room.

“Fucking finally” He muttered, as he opened the door. Who needed to knock, anyways?

He closed the door behind him, a bit louder than he had intended. The teacher there didn’t bother looking at him, they just pointed at the seats in front of them as a gesture to ‘sit down, be quiet, and don’t bother me’.

Remus faced the other students in detention. Three.

Wait. Eden was there. He was doing his homework.

He sat next to him, waiting to see if he was noticed. He was not.

Remus poked him with a pen. Eden turned to face him, and almost jumped out of his chair.

“What are you doing here?!” He whisper yelled.

“I got detention for cursing.” Remus said. “What are _you_ doing here?”

“I snapped at a bitch.” Eden said, pointing with his head at the girl a few rows ahead them.

“Oh, cool.” Remus said. “Anyways, I gotta tell you something that just happened.”

Before Remus could continue, the teacher shushed them. Remus pouted. Eden just slipped him a note that read ‘we’ll talk later’.

Remus kept pouting as he did his homework. It was hard. And his mind only thinking about the flower book was not helping.

Poppies! That was the type of flowers!

Satisfied with his own thoughts, Remus went back to doing his homework.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed, leave a comment if you liked it!
> 
> (Also my other stories are on hiatus because of no content November, but since I already promised posting this one on Wednesdays, Poppies will be the only one updated.)


	4. Logan gets a new friend and Remus's voice cracks when he lies.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fourth of November, 2019, 11:13am, recess in the library.
> 
> Remus shouldn't be climbing the library shelves, yet he's trying to do so anyways.  
> Roman is screaming at him to stop.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look, I already warned y'all that the background characters were gonna be from PoTO.   
> I did this once in a wip and now all my background characters are references to other stuff I like.  
> And I love PoTO, so...
> 
> Enjoy!

Fourth of November, 2019, 11:13am, recess in the library.

I agreed to meet the others in the recess. I hope they know their way to the library, cause I’m not going to the playground. Too loud. The first years are so fucking annoying, I swear to god. The other years are more subdued, just walking around in groups. They must be talking or something, because the only ones moving in excessing amounts are the first years.

I pity Logan right now. He’s not fan of noise either, and he’s going to have to stand his first year with these bunch of screeching children.

Sometimes we forget Logan is twelve. He doesn’t act his age.

~~I don’t either, but I’ve got trauma. I hope Logan doesn’t act different cause of trauma as well.~~

Anyways, the library is nice. Quiet. Nice ambient of pastel colours and round shapes. I dunno why, but my brain hates when places have neon colours or really bright screaming colours in general.

I have taken a look through the nearest bookshelves. I must reckon most books are repeated (probably obligatory readings or something). But I found a few ones that might be interesting. Emphasis on might, I never trust a book by its cover.

It’s a pity recess lasts this little. Like, we only got thirty minutes to eat our lunch (which, may I add, has terrible texture. Really, give me something edible here) and then back to the slow psychological torture? That’s too little time.

At least the tomatoes were nice. Those tasted good.

Ok, gotta go, I think some of my idiotic friends are coming.

–Janus D.C.–

[There’s a doodle of a bee in a poppy.]

Logan didn’t like his class. He had forgotten how kids his age could be. How they could be so mean. Well, at least it hadn’t been directed at him.

Somehow that thought didn’t make him feel any better.

The playground, he observed, was not the safest place to play in. In fact, Logan was sure that if any of the hyperactive twelve years old attempted to climb the fence, they would manage to jump to the other side. It sounded like something Remus would do.

He watched his classmates play tag and scream. He wanted to join them for a second. But they would probably not want Logan to be with them, so why bother?

He noticed a kid sitting alone eating the tasteless sandwich they’d all been handed.

He didn’t know why he approached them. He’d rather think it wasn’t pity, but compassion. Although Logan knew there wasn’t much difference between the two.

“Hey.” He said. That was a normal greeting, right? He didn’t feel right saying something like ‘Salutations’ right now.

The kid looked up at him. Their face was… different. Like Eden’s, but not quite the same.

“What do you want?” The kid asked, looking at him with distrust in their golden eyes.

“I was going to meet up with some friends, but I was wondering if you would like to, well, hang? I think the expression was hang out with me. Tomorrow? On recess?” Logan stuttered, blushing as he did so.

“Oh.” The kid said. “Oh, ok.”

“Good. I’m Logan.” He held out his hand for the kid to shake.

The kid let out a small laugh and took it. “Pleased to meet you. I’m Erik.”

“Well, Erik, see you later?” Logan said, smiling slightly.

“See you later.” Erik said.

Logan smiled a bit wider and left, turning to wave at them one last time.

He almost tripped over his own feet, but it was worth it.

Entering the building Logan knew there were two options to the other’s locations. The cafeteria or the library. Knowing his friends, he headed over the cafeteria.

Logan was, in fact, correct. Right after entering the cafeteria, where there was almost as much noise as in the playground, he metaphorically bumped into Virgil and Patton.

Patton beamed at him, looking as if he was fighting the urge of hugging the life out of Logan.

“There you are!” He said. “We were looking for you!”

“Sup?” Virgil said, momentarily taking a hand out of his pockets just to wave.

Logan smiled. “Salutations. I don’t suppose you have seen the others, now have you?”

“We ran into Remus a minute ago” Virgil said “he was going to fetch Roman and meet us in the library. There’s no one there.”

“I suppose that’s adequate…” Logan said. “How were your first classes?”

“Oh, they were… nice” Patton lied, forcing a smile. “Like, the teacher barely acknowledged me and kept with the lecture, and I was left to copy all my classmate’s notes, which all have similar handwritings, that’s weird. So yeah, really nice class.”

“Mood. Mine was similar. Only Remus got sent to detention for his fucking language.” Virgil said.

Patton scoffed. “And you wonder why I censored each entry…” He said.

The three of them started walking towards the library. The hallways seemed to be empty, though none of them was meticulous enough to notice.

“And you, Logan?” Patton asked, interrupting the silence. “How were your classes?”

Logan thought about his classes for a moment. They were too loud and too overwhelming.

“They were tough, I’ll admit to that.” He settled in for tough. The other words would alarm his friends too much. “But I made a friend in recess.”

Patton almost squeaked in exciting. “Really? What’s their name?”

“Erik.” Logan said. “He’s nice. Shy.”

“So, basically, the two of you are made for each other” Virgil said. “Introverts.” He scoffed. As if he wasn’t an introvert himself.

Patton opened the library door for the other two. “Well I’m glad you’re making friends, Logan, my classmates are all so… closed. Like they don’t even see me when I talk to them.”

“They’re tired teenagers, what did you expect?” Virgil asked.

“I dread the day I become one of you.” Logan muttered.

“Surprise, bitch” Virgil said. “You’re already one of us.”

“No I’m not” Logan said. The library’s door closed and he had to fight the urge to cursed very loudly.

“Yes you are.” Virgil said. “You’re tired, grumpy, feel misunderstood by your peers and make dark humour jokes.” He listed the things on his fingers, before finger gunning at Logan. “Boom. Teenager.”

“I’m afraid Virgil’s right, kiddo.” Patton said. “By that definition, you’re a teenager.”

“Teenager. Twelve.” Logan said, comparing the two words. “They don’t go together. It’s literally in the word.”

“REMUS GET DOWN YOU MOTHERFUCKING IDIOT” They heard Roman shout.

Virgil closed his mouth, forgetting what he had been planning to say.

The three of them looked over the corner of the library. Remus was climbing the shelves, having taken off his shoes and thrown them at the table. Eden was limiting himself to watching from the sidelines, avoiding Remus’s smelly shoes.

“YOU FOOL.” Remus screamed. “I’LL FUCK YOUR MOM” 

“You have the same mother.” Logan said, sitting next to Eden. “Also, hello.”

“Hi.” Eden said. He pushed his school bag back.

“Please help me pull Remus down.” Roman pleaded, looking at Patton and Virgil with desperation. “Please.”

Virgil looked at Remus, looked at Roman, looked at Remus, and then grabbed Remus foot and pulled him down. Remus fell on Roman, crashing both of them into the ground.

“Done.” He said, sitting down next to Logan. He pushed Remus’s shoes to the ground.

Roman pushed Remus aside and stood up, cleaning his clothes. He then yanked Remus to his feet, seeing the Remus had been too distracted by the tittles in the lowest shelf to get back to his feet.

Both twins finally sat down.

“So. Remus wanted to show us something.” Eden said.

“Please don’t be a spider.” Patton muttered.

Remus beamed and jumped on his seat. “Right! I forgot!” He grabbed his back pack and started looking for something. Seconds later he pulled out five old leather journals. He placed them on the table, in a semi circle. “Ta-da!” He exclaimed.

“Books.” Roman deadpanned. “That was it?”

Logan reached to grab one of the books. They seemed old and delicate. Opening the first one, he found the pages to be yellowish and thin, yet somehow the book was sturdy enough for none of them to break.

He passed to the first page, and found it empty. No. Almost empty.

There, on the top corner of the first page, was a name.

 _Logan Oliveira_.

He stared at the book for a few seconds before taking the one Virgil was holding out of his hands. He opened it and looked at the first page as well.

_Virgil Lowe._

Before Virgil could complain, he showed him the first page. Virgil stared at it, and Logan could’ve sworn he got paler than usual.

“Guys.” Virgil said. “Check the first pages. The names are there.”

Patton frowned, checking the first page of his book.

_Patton Thomson._

He smiled. “Aw, Remus, that’s so nice of you!”

Remus stared at his book. It also had his name on it. He blinked twice and smiled. “Yeah, it’s nothing…” He laughed, his voice cracking a bit.

“Jerk. Almost gave me a heart attack, you could’ve warmed me!” Virgil said, colour finally returning to his face.

Eden frowned, looking at Remus. “So… you just got everyone new journals? Since I kept the old one?”

“Yeah.” Remus said. “I thought it’d be nice, ya know? A new place, a new journal, it doesn’t even have to be a diary!”

Roman hummed, smiling as he flipped the pages. “It does have the perfect aesthetic for a fairy tales book… where did you get these?”

Remus’s face seemed to lit up. “There was this room!” He said, trying to keep a quiet tone but failing. “It was like a really old library! Kinda scary at first, but then I found these books, and I was about to get more for Logan, but this weird lady told me to go away. Can we go later to grab a book that caught me eye?”

“When did you have time to snoop around?” Eden asked. “And where did you find a library?”

“On the old looking hallway with shitty lighting.” Remus said. “Anyways, we have to go back later.”

“I don’t think we’ll have time. We have a lot of catching up to do…” Patton said. “However, I think I have a great idea of how to use these new journals.”

Remus pouted. Roman smiled, and started jumping slightly on his seat.

“What’s the idea?” He asked, already overexcited before knowing the idea.

“Well, it’s like game nights, only each person makes a character in their journal, with their backstory, and all the characters go together living adventures.” Patton explained, adjusting his glasses and closing the journal. “Each journal would tell the story from the character point of view. And one of us would have to control the main story so that it makes sense. And also control the background characters. We could make small stories and change the person in control from story to story.”

“So, dungeons and dragons?” Eden said, resting his head on his hand. “You basically described a primitive version of dungeon and dragons.”

Patton blinked for a few seconds, staring at nothing deep in thought.

“I did? I did…” He muttered.

Virgil laughed. “Only Patton is able of doing this stuff. I call dibs on DM on the first story.”

Remus jumped out of his chair. “Hey, no! I got the journals, I get to be Dm!”

“Hush, peasants” Roman said, pulling his brother down once more. “I have the best idea for a story, so shut up and let fabulous me be in charge.”

Remus pushed him off his chair. Roman got up, brushed the dust off his clothes, and pushed Remus back. Then he sat down on the chair. He had to pull Remus back to his chair, because he was lying against the ground with no intentions of getting up.

“I think Patton should Dm.” Logan said. “He’s the one that came with the idea, after all.”

“I don’t think I’ll be able of Dming. I’d need to be organized, and I’m not.” Patton said. “Maybe Logan could do it?”

“I… suppose I could be the Dm.” Logan said. “If everyone is agreeable.”

“You’re talking about the Twins.” Eden said. “They never agree.”

“Touche.” Logan said.

The bell rang. Patton pouted, and Remus cursed. Logan pulled his backpack and stood up.

“I’ll get going now. We can meet here later to do homework?” He proposed.

“Sure.” Eden said. “We have plenty of those to do.” Having said that, he grabbed his stuff and walked away.

They all bid their goodbyes and went to their respective classes.

Logan’s new journal felt heavier inside his backpack.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed! Leave a comment if you liked it!
> 
> (Also, if you don't know what PoTO is, just... leave a comment I'll explain)


	5. Logan's friends and Eden's hatred towards physics.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eden hates physics and Patton and Remus take too long in the bathroom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: *Minding my business.*  
> Today: Is Wednesday ma dudes  
> Me: Oh SHIT *uploads a few hours later than normal cause they forgot*

Fourth of November, 2019, 1:46 pm, physics class.

It is decided. I hate physics.

It just doesn’t make any sense!

I’m not even gonna get into it, I’m too tired.

That’s weird. Why am I tired?

Maybe because you haven’t slept at all, you dumbass.

Great, I’ve gone insane. I’m talking? Writing to myself. Great.

Anyways, Remus has gifted everyone new journals. Although they look old as heck. Like, I legit thought they were going to fall apart as soon as anyone grabbed them, but they stayed pretty sturdy. They’re nice, all with different tones of browns as a cover. I’m kinda jealous of them, not that I don’t like this one. It’s cover is a nice red, but it doesn’t have the same feeling as leather.

Patton suggested playing DnD instead of game nights. Poor Logan’s been asked to be the DM. He’s going to suffer, that’s gonna be chaos.

I want to be a healer. This way the others will protect me ‘cause I’m the only one that can cure them, and I won’t have to fight.

I’m betting Roman will be a full honorable knight, or even a prince if he gets the chance. And Remus will definitively be a barbarian so he can cause chaos.

Patton gives me druid vibes, and Virgil will probably be a rogue for the aesthetic.

The thing is that we don’t know shit about DnD. So this is going to be so factually incorrect. Too bad there’s no one to correct us. (Not that we want to be correct. We just wanna have fun)

On unrelated events, the rowdy two are still being annoying. At least they’re leaving me alone. I don’t think Louis likes me, after shouting at his sister. I mean, he probably didn’t like me just cause of my face. Superficial rich boys. They’re all the same.

I’m getting tired. I’ll go to sleep earlier this night, if I don’t fall asleep right here and now.

That would probably land me in detention again, and I’ve heard Louis say something about Esther being on her second strike. I don’t want to find out what happens in the third strike.

Nothing ever good happens on the third strike.

Anyways, I’ll write later. Imma try catch up with the homework.

God, I hate physics.

–Janus D.C.–

[There’s a doodle of a person in a cloak, holding daggers and smiling like a maniac. It’s labelled ‘Rogue Virgil’. The eyes are red. The rest is blue.]

4/11/2019

Look, I don’t care how you did it, I don’t care why you did it. I will not tolerate any kind of haunting journals or evil books to ruin this school year. Understood?

I fucked up once my chance at an education, I’m not going to do that again. So you motherfucking journal can fuck off and drop the weird ‘name and surname written by no one in the first page’ shit.

Like, really, it’s not even my handwriting.

It kinda looks like Eden’s, but he couldn’t have done it, right?

Nope, not gonna think about that weird shit possibility, not even gonna bother.

I wanted to be Dm. I have this great story idea, and it’s even safe for work! Like, no sex, no incest, no torture…

Well, maybe a bit of torture.

I’ll write about this later so I don’t forget it, now I gotta get back to catching up in Spanish class.

Spanish is drunk, and I love it.

-DUKE

Virgil was getting even more tempted to just give up. Maths was going to be the end of him. He had all the notes, yet the equation in front of him made no sense.

He was at the library, Roman and Eden next to him. Roman was trying to translate Spanish so it made sense, and Eden entertained himself copying clean his history notes. At least someone was enjoying himself.

Remus had left minutes ago, under the excuse of “taking a massive shit.” Patton had decided to accompany him, although not stating exactly what he had to do. He had better manners.

Logan had gone to chat with a friend of his.

Virgil was about to hit his homework. With his face.

“Hey, guys.” Logan said, approaching them. Another kid his age walked behind him, hiding his face with his hoodie.

“‘Sup” Virgil said. “I wanna die, maths is killing me.”

“Virgil, be nice.” Eden said. He turned to Logan’s friend. “Hello. I’m Eden.”

Virgil grumbled. “I’m Virgil.” He said, looking at the new kid.

He couldn’t fight back a shiver. The kid’s face was… different, to say the least. He looked at Eden and Roman for a moment.

Eden was smiling at the kid. Roman caught Virgil’s eye and gestured towards Eden.

‘Don’t start like an asshole again’. Right. He could do that.

“My name’s Roman.” He said. “Don’t mistake me for Remus, he’s the evil twin.”

The kid let out a small laugh. “I’m Erik.” He said, with a quiet voice.

“Pleased to meet you, Erik.” Eden said.

“We were wondering if you could lend us some crayons?” Logan said. “We have to do a drawing for art class, and Nadir’s crayons broke last week apparently.”

“Take Remus’s, he won’t mind.” Roman said, moving to gab his brother’s backpack. He pulled out a box of old crayons and tossed them to Logan, who caught them mid air.

Virgil scoffed at the action and went back to trying to decipher how maths were supposed to work. Algebra was going to become his least favourite subject.

Erik looked at what Virgil was doing.

“You copied it wrong.” He said. “It’s nine minus 6x, not four minus 6x. It’s supposed to equal three minus x, elevated by two.”

“Oh.” Virgil said, frowning. Erik was right. He _had_ copied it wrong.

He blinked, confused.

“How old were you?” He asked.

Erik fidgeted with the sleeves of his hoodie. “Almost twelve…?” He said, looking away.

“We got ourselves another little genius.” Roman said. “No wonder Logan got along with you.”

“I’m not _that_ smart.” Logan muttered, grabbing Erik’s hand. “I’ll see you all later, if that’s possible.”

“Bye Specs.” Virgil said, as he crossed out the problem and rewrote it.

“Have fun!” Eden said, waving a hand.

Erik and Logan waved back, before leaving to the other corner of the library.

After a few moments of silence, a solved equation and Virgil getting stuck on another operation, Virgil spoke.

“I like that kid.” Virgil said. “He seems nice.”

“He does. It’s good Logan’s getting friends his age.” Eden said, eyes still focused on his history notes. “At least someone is making new friends.”

“What can I say?” Roman said, doodling in the margins of his notebook. “The kids in our class are dumb and bland and so fucking boring.”

“They are.” Virgil agreed. “School brainwashed them, or something.”

“You two are so dramatic.” Eden said, rolling his eyes.

“You love us anyways.” Roman said. He looked at Patton’s and Remus’s empty seats. “How long are these two going to take?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed! Leave a comment if you liked it and want to make me happy!


	6. Remus doesn't like the poppies book.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> November 4, 2019  
> 4/11/2019  
> 4 of November

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You truly didn't think the others would stop writing just because, now did you?  
> Enjoy!

November 4, 2019

I appreciate Remus’s gift. I would’ve appreciated a bit more of a warning, after all, having my name written on the first page caught me off guard. I wonder how he found out my surname.

Anyways, I’ve made new ~~friends~~ acquaintances. I’m not sure if they’re friend material yet.

I met Erik this recess. Right now it’s study hour. I’m with them, only not talking right now. We stopped talking after finishing the art homework, sadly.

Erik Destler. Nice kid. Really smart, and very shy, but he’s nice. He has entrapping golden eyes.

He presented me his two and only friends. Nadir Khan and Antoinette Giry.

Nadir got sent here after getting in trouble with his xenophobic tutor in his old school. Antoinette claims her parents don’t want to bother with raising her, so they sent her here. Erik hasn’t said why he’s here, but I suspect it has something to do with his deformity.

Deformity is such a strong word. He’s not ugly, and honestly I think he’s quite pretty. I really like his eyes.

We had to paint a landscape of a city. I think I did quite alright, I even added people walking on the street. Antoinette claims she can’t draw to safe her life, which doesn’t make sense. Why would anyone need to draw to safe their life? It’s not like someone is going to point you with a gun and say, “you. Draw me a building. Make it pretty.”

Erik’s drawing was really nice, but he took the longest because he just kept adding details. We had all finished it, and he was just starting to colour it.

Nadir’s really cool, because he drew the street he grew in. Although he didn’t manage to get straight lines, and he coloured rather messily. But I really like it.

I hope the others don’t think I’m replacing them. I’m not! I just really liked Erik and the other two, and I can have more friends than them, right?

Patton suggested playing DnD, although with other words. I think it’s a good idea, although me being Dm is going to be complicated. I don’t have a lot of imaginative ideas, I’m just… not creative enough, I guess.

I’ll ask the Twins for help, they’re always getting new ideas they never get to finish.

Anyways, my little break is over. Imma say goodbye to these three and go study with the others.

Virgil was suffering with maths, and none of the others are good with maths.

–Nerd

“Remus, this is not the bathroom.” Patton said, looking around the dark hallway.

Remus, who was holding his hand with a bit more strength than needed, groaned.

“You think I don’t know?” He said, in a hushed voice. “I’m trying to get there, but this place is a fucking labyrinth.”

“Remus! Language!” Patton said. “Really, how hard can it be to find the bathroom?”

“Well, it’s being harder than I expected, ok?” Remus whispered, dragging Patton behind him.

Patton looked around him, at the doors that somehow looked all the same, at the spider webs in the ceiling corners, at the dust and dirt that he was stepping on.

He gripped Remus’s hand harder. “Remus, I don’t like this place, can we go?”

“I’m trying!” Remus said, turning to the left. Another corridor exactly the same to the last one met them.

Remus groaned in frustration. He had been trying for the last five minutes, and yet it looked as if he was walking on circles.

“Fuck it.” He said, starting to try every doorknob, like the last time he had been around here. If that had work then, it should work now, right?

Right.

“Remus, what are you doing?” Patton asked, voice barely above a whisper.

“Trust me in this one, Pat, this is how I found my way out the last time this happened.” Remus said, moving from door to door to try.

“This has happened before?” Patton asked, worry tainting his voice.

“Just once.” Remus said, “I found the journals and left, nothing bad happened.”

Remus knew this was a bad way to reassure his friend, but honestly, he was never good at that kind of things anyways, so who cared?

Remus cared.

Finally, a door opened, pulling Remus and Patton inside.

Patton shrieked in panic, before Remus pulled out his phone to use the flashlight.

“See? Same room I ended up last time.” Remus said, looking around.

It was, indeed, the same room than last time. But not everything remained the same. Where the books had once been, there was nothing more than dust and empty space. And Remus felt as if the room was smaller than before.

“I thought you said you ended up in a library…” Patton said, looking around. He pulled out his phone and lit up his flashlight as well.

“It… It was.” Remus said. “Someone must have emptied it.”

Patton laughed. “Why would anyone do that? It’s probably another room with the same layout, we are in a high school after all.”

“Right.” Remus said, inspecting his surroundings. “Right, you’re probably right.” He said, even though he didn’t believe a word he was saying.

“Hey look,” Patton said, walking away from Remus. “Someone left a book behind.”

He crouched to grab something from the ground. Remus recognised the book.

“It’s the poppies book.” Remus muttered, taking it from Patton’s hand. He brushed the dirt and dust again. “I saw it earlier.”

“It looks cool.” Patton said. “But I really need to pee, can we get out of here?”

“Yeah, let’s go.” Remus said, leaving the book in a shelf and taking Patton’s hand.

They exited the room. The hallways still looked the same, but somehow, after three turns to the left and one to the right, both kids found the bathroom.

Going back to their spot in the library, Roman complained about them taking so long.

Remus sat down as Patton started explaining what had happened and reached inside his backpack to pull out his pencil case.

His hand touched something else.

Remus frowned and pulled out something he didn’t remember putting inside his backpack.

He was holding the poppies book.

4/11/2019

Ok, this is getting too far. I told you I wouldn’t tolerate any weird fucking shit like haunting.

So I looked at the book once. So what? Are you really just giving it to me for no fucking reason?

Stop it. I left it in the library, hidden under a table.

You better make sure I don’t see it again, or I will burn it to ashes.

Now, if you behave, I will use you like a normal fucking journal. I’m giving you one last chance.

Don’t fuck it up.

-DUKE

4 of November,

Remus and I came with the basic idea for the Dnd game. I wanted to do a fairy tale but with the expectations subverted. Like that one Neil Gaiman story about Snow white. Remus really liked that story.

Among other stuff, we included: Dragons, arson, burning (or attempting to do so) evil looking creatures, witches, elves, fairies, magic and a lot of sword fights.

I’m a magician. Because, magic. [there are sparkles surrounding this word]

Remus is a bard, and I’m honestly not surprised. He’s going to use Barbie World as main theme.

Apart from us two, Eden is the only one who chose character. He’s a former royal turned healer. Like, magic healing or some stuff. I’m more of fire-burning-people-alive magic.

Anyways, I’m going to go to sleep now, because I have done too much homework for my whole life, and I haven’t even finished.

Wish me luck!

~Princey

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed, leave a comment if you liked it and want me to stay motivated!


	7. Logan likes books.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fifth of November, 2019, 3:25 am, even newer bedroom.  
> 2020/11/5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's Wednesday ma dudes.  
> *yeets chapter into the void*

Fifth of November, 2019, 3:25 am, even newer bedroom.

I must admit, this bedroom is better. The bed is warmer, the window isn’t actively trying to kill me, it’s cleaner and has better illumination.

I still don’t like it.

Objectively it’s better, which yeah, cool, whatever. But it doesn’t have the others in it and I barely know the people I’m supposed to be dorm mates with.

And the rich boy is here, so that’s great.

He hasn’t done anything yet, but he was giving me this death glares. Like I had killed his newborn child.

This guy needs to chill, I snapped at his sister, I didn’t just obliterate his whole family for fuck’s sake.

Anyways, the covers are big and warm and I feel like a snake trapped in a deathly yet comfortable trap. It’s amazing.

Also, the amount of homework I have is ridiculous. It’s almost as if the teachers made sure to send enough homework each day so that the students didn’t have any free time. Like they want us to become mindless clones of each others.

Good news are that Logan made a new friend. Friends. I’ve only met one, his name is Erik. He’s smart, apparently, but I don’t know what else I expected from Logan.

Although he did made friends with us, and god knows we’re all lacking braincells.

It’s kinda fucking weird. Camp Green shit, I mean. Sure, it turned out to be an illegal scheme from the Warden because she was searching for some shit from her ancestors. But why the kids? And what would she do with the kids even if she found what she wanted? She wouldn’t be able of just sending us back home, and this orphanage-reformatory was a fucking miracle.

Remus mentioned digging up our graves, pages back. And I don’t want to be a pessimist, but I'm on Remus' side here. What would the Warden do with the kids once she found the shit she was searching for? What would be more fitting than getting rid of all the kids who know in graves they dug themselves?? _The idea is quite terrifying, being buried alive. No light, no way to escape, and the dread of only knowing you have a limited time before oxygen starts to run out. The walls of the coffin starting to feel tighter and tighter until you cannot move and you cannot breathe and you cannot live._

Ok, Remus is a bad influence, now I’m not going to sleep.

Think happy thoughts Eden, think happy thoughts.

Eden isn’t my real name. I signed once, because I always thought that if I were a published author I’d go by the pen name of Eden. From the paradise and the snake and all of that.

But then I told the others, and I don’t even know why I did that, and since my teachers only refer to me as Mr. Crowell they will never know that Eden is just a stupid name I came up with in a panicked moment.

~~I still like Eden better than Janus. Janus is a stupid name.~~

I said happy thoughts, goddamnit.

Roman and Remus came up with a plot for a Dnd campaign already. Let’s see where _that_ takes us.

–Janus D.C.–

[There’s a doodle of a snake between poppies. The snake is bleping]

Logan woke up before any of his new dorm mates. That was good. He didn’t like them very much, and his new acquaintances all slept in different dorms.

So he had about half an hour before his precious silence was interrupted.

He decided to put that half an hour into use. He made his bed quietly and changed clothes into school uniform, made sure he had all the books needed for the day and still had five more minutes before everyone’s alarms started sounding and woke the rest of his dorm mates up.

His hand went instinctively to the midnight stand, where he remembered leaving his grandmother’s book. He had almost finished it.

But he grabbed something else. Something bigger.

He frowned, looking at the old looking book, with a cover of flowers. No tittle. He looked at the spine, but there was only a small drawing of some poppies.

He sat at the bed and carefully opened it. He brushed the pages, delighting in the tact of soft old paper.

He didn’t understand the words. It was in some romanic language. Not quite latin. Maybe it was informal latin. Logan did not know.

However, the drawings were mesmerizing. Detailed drawings, watercolours and engravings of flowers and insects and other similar invertebrates, and what Logan assumed was the scientific explanation that went along the pictures.

He kept passing pages, looking to the entrancing details. It was so beautiful, sometimes Logan had to remind himself these weren’t actual photographs.

Logan’s hands stopped from passing the pages at the middle of the book. This page could not belong to this book.

Two pages, full of words, no pictures, no paragraphs, just word after word after word. Logan stared at the paper, draining in all the little details. How the ink was smudged, how the paper seemed to be more delicate than normal, how Logan couldn’t stop staring at it even if he wanted to.

He was startled by his dorm mates’s alarm, hands dropping the book by accident. The booked fell to his feet, closing in a thud.

Logan cursed quietly and picked it up. He made sure the book was undamaged. He wouldn’t forgive himself if he had dented the cover with his carelessness.

He sighted relieved when he found not imperfections on the book. He stuffed it along the other books for the day and started putting on his shoes.

He didn’t feel like talking to his dorm mates anyways, it was better if he just left.

2020/11/5

Dear Diary,

I’m Patton! It’s a pleasure to meet you!

I guess this is kind of an introduction. I don’t really know what to say.

I have five friends. The Twins, Logan, Virgil and Eden. I love them all very much. In fact, one of the Twins, Remus (the other is Roman. Isn’t it nice that their names go together?) gave me this journal! With my name on it! Isn’t that nice?

It’s weird though, I picked up the one that had my name at the first try. I must’ve been lucky.

Logan and Virgil were also pretty lucky.

I missed the game nights, so now we’re trying to organize a campaign of Dnd. It was called that way, right? Anyways, the main idea is that we want it fantasy themed. Remus and Roman had a lot of ideas, and Eden participated a bit too. I’m happy when I see Eden talk more. It feels as if we lost so much time in Camp green lake where we could’ve been the bestest of the bestestest friends.

So, Dnd idea:

I’m, for now, cause I haven’t thought of many options to be honest, a knight. Human, I don’t want this first game to be too complicated. And more or less my backstory ain’t too tragic, I just trained in the city to be part of the royal guard, got rejected and joined my friend’s crew out of spite.

Remus and Roman are still brothers (and Twins) in the game. Remus is a not so legal bard. Roman is a magician, with a habit of casting fireballs and sparkles. Quite the arsonist.

I think they wanted to be fairies, but Logan said it was too much and they settled for being chaotic elves.

Eden is a healer. He didn’t tell us sh a thing about his backstory. He wants his character to be mysterious and cool.

Virgil went for something simple. Just a archer guy who wants money to live.

Logan is going to have to chose between the bazillion ideas the Twins threw at him.

One I would preffer he wouldn’t chose is the one involving creepy spiders.

_Not just creepy spiders, creepy, cow sized, spiders, that will follow you around for miles until they can trap you in silk and eat you from inside out._

Yeah, I think I’d pretty much let my character die at that situation. So no spiders. And no fire, except for what Roman might create. And no weeping angels, Virgil vetoed the weeping angels.

This is going to be so much fun! I just can’t wait to see what Logan joins together!

Welp, I’m sad to say my time is over. I have to have breakfast or I’ll be hungry.

I’ll talk to you later, I still wanna tell you about this place.

-Dad :D

Roman watched his brother as he checked under the bed, inside the drawers beside his bed and inside of his school bag.

He yawned. “Are you… looking for something?”

Remus flinched, jumping upwards. “No. Nothing.” He said, his voice cracking. “We should get breakfast before our insides decide to digest themselves and turn us into decomposed puddles.”

“God, you’re gross.” Roman said. “Great way to start off the day.”

“I always give the best morning thoughts and you know it.” Remus said.

“Whatever you say” Roman said. “Let’s go, I’m hungry.”

They left the room, heading towards the cafeteria.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed! Leave a comment if you liked it!


	8. Stealing Roman's pineapple juice.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fifth of November, 2019, 8:02 am, cafeteria.  
> 2019, November 5? 5.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't even know how to name chapters anymore.  
> Am I begging for comments?  
> Yes.  
> Please.  
> (Also, just in case, Virgil starts talking about drowning in a manner that might be considered graphic? It's the whole paragraph in italics, in case you wanna skip)

Fifth of November, 2019, 8:02 am, cafeteria.

Food here is at least more diverse, I suppose. It still tastes bland, but it’s an improvement.

The cafeteria is big enough to fit all the students. Which is more than what we can say about my last high school.

I’m in a small table at the corner. Waiting for the others. It’s nice, near the radiator, so I’m warm. And someone has painted all over the table, and that’s entertaining enough until the others arrive.

Ok, so tomorrow I have maths exam, but that’s fine, I think I can pass maths. The problem is this Friday. I still don’t understand shit about physics, and I haven’t caught up with the unit yet.

So yeah, I’m more fucked than Roman when Remus pulls a Cain and Abel.

I think I saw Patton earlier making small talk with some other students. He’s having better luck than me making friends. Heck, even Virgil started talking about some nerdy comics with a kid named Parker. And he’s Virgil. He’d rather drink bleach than socialize like a normal human being.

Why am I so bad at making friends?

Roman and Remus are arriving at the cafeteria. I can hear them arguing. Are they arguing about raccoons? What the fuck.

They’re arguing about how many raccoons can fit in someone’s ass.

Just when I thought Remus could not be grosser, he surprises me with shit like this. Raccoons.

I wonder how long it’ll take them to notice that I’m in the corner. Probably a while, since they’re getting food first and the queue is huge. That’s why I made sure to come early.

I finished all my juice. I want more. It was tasty.

But I’m not standing up from here any time soon.

Virgil asked me how I could stand to be sat down for eight hours plus. I don’t know why he’s so uncomfortable with it. It’s just sitting down.

Anyways, the two chaotic Twins finally saw me. I’m gonna put you away before Remus spills something over you.

I’ll steal Roman’s juice. He doesn’t like pineapple juice anyways.

–Janus D.C.–

[There's a doodle of a pineapple quickly done.]

“Ok, ok, listen to me.” Remus said, gesturing widely. “Demon witches”

“No.” Said Roman, brushing away the crumbles on his face. “Dragon witches.”

“Demons. They are cooler.” Remus said.

“Why not both?” Asked Patton. “Demon dragon witches?”

Virgil scoffed. “Too many adjectives.”

“True” Patton said, tilting his head. “Maybe both, but they’re different species?”

“So, like guilds?” Eden said, drinking from Roman’s stolen juice. “Dragon witches being a guild and Demon witches being another?”

“No, no, wait!” Remus said, bouncing up and down. “They’re against each other! A rivalry going on through centuries, one kind against the other.”

“And the towns must pledge their alliances with one or the other if they don’t want to be burnt alive!” Roman exclaimed, bouncing as well. “Or some other magic catastrophically awful stuff.”

Logan hummed. “Alright, and where does this whole… magical rivalry take place in the map?” He asked, trying to handle the dozens of ideas he was receiving at once. He scribbled something at the margins of the page where the map was being drawn.

“The valleys? We had a few cities there, right?” Virgil said, looking over Logan’s shoulder to see the map.

“The valleys are already being used to hold the elf and dwarf population, in conflict with the weird… creature you still have to design from the mountains.” Logan said. “This is so much world building for one game.”

“Yeah, but once we finish it, we can play multiple games in the same world, and make them be remembered by the people living there.” Eden said. “I think it’s cool.”

“Maybe it’s too much work for Logan.” Patton said. “Why don’t we split it up?”

Logan raised an eyebrow. “Elaborate.”

Patton gestured vaguely with his hands. “Well, maybe I can handle some part of the terrain and Eden another, and Virgil another and yadi yadi yada…” He stopped gesturing and took a bite out of his salad. “Something like that?”

“I wanna do the creepy jungle!” Remus said, mouth full of bread.

“I call the valleys then.” Roman said, throwing a napkin at his brother’s face. “I shall create the best monster for those mountains!”

“Alright” Logan said, scribbling things down. “Patton may do the forest, Eden can take care of the lake and swamps, and Virgil can take care of the coastline. I’ll take care of the capital.”

“Neat.” Virgil said. “This is going to look like a badly done puzzle.”

“It’ll be fun, though.” Patton said.

“It’ll surely be.” Virgil agreed, smiling at Patton.

The bell rang, and at the same time, the twins and Eden groaned.

“God, kill me before going to class.” Roman pleaded, lying against the table dramatically.

Virgil snorted as he poked Roman with a finger. “Dramaqueen. It’s just biology.”

“Biology is going to end me.” Roman said.

Logan closed his journal, gaining the attention of the other five.

“I’m going to class now.” He said. “You may use your journals to do your part of the world building. I hope we can have it ready for tomorrow’s evening.”

“Sure” Remus said, pulling Roman to his feet and grabbing his schoolbag. “Go hang out with your boyfriend.”

Logan blushed. “Erik is not!” He groaned. “I hate you.”

“You love me.” Remus said, blowing a kiss at him.

Patton laughed. He stood up and grabbed his things. “I’ll see you later, guys! Love ya!”

Eden waved at them goodbye as he left.

2019, November 5? 5.

It’s depressing the fact that I know the date. It means I have to be tidy with my schedule.

Have you met me? I’m the furthest away from tidy.

Anyways, I’m in music class, but since my musical abilities are shit, and I don’t even have a recorder yet, I’ve decided to do my part for game night.

Wait, shit, I should introduce myself. Right, that can’t be to hard.

Name’s Virgil. Although I’ll be signing as emo, for some stupid joke I have with my friends. No, I will not explain it. I’m far too lazy.

So, game night.

What did I have to do again?

Oh, yeah, coastline.

You bet my ass I’m making a giant serpent monster in the coastline that feeds of fishermen. And mermaids. Mermaids are cool, no matter how much Dee insists in picking on them for historical inaccuracies.

So, an idea I have to do when I’m finally granted control.

The crew arrives at a town, where everyone’s nice and everyone’s just… like Patton. Patton level nice and happy.

At least apparently.

Because while we sleep in an inn, one of our own will be kidnapped (And that I’m going to decide at random).

Turns out the town uses people as tributes to the sea serpent to keep it from attacking the town, and they thought that one of us would be a great tribute.

So, they take him to the sea during a night storm, and the others have to go after him.

The thing about drowning is that it takes longer than it seems, specially during storms.

_You swim and swim, trying to keep your head above the water. But the tide has this thing, when it throws you under water. And you swim to the surface again, lungs burning like fire because you inhaled a bit of sea water. You go back, and you get thrown down again, and again and again. And each time you swallow a bit more of water. Until your lungs are filled with water, giving no space for air. And you start losing consciousness. And your vision becomes blurry as you drop to the bottom of the sea._

So yeah, it’s a nasty way to die.

And then we also got the serpent monster, so that’s great!

That’s all I got, they better appreciate it. Creativity is not my thing, it’s a more Twins’s thing.

I’m more of a ball of stress that yells at them not to get in trouble.

They get in trouble anyways.

Music class is over. Imma go study with the others and show them my idea.

I hope they like it.

-Emo.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nope you enjoyed! Leave a comment if you liked it!


	9. New friends and old acquaintances.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> November 5, 2019  
> Fifth of November, 2019, 14:03 am, ending of math class.  
> Both Virgil and Logan manage to get in trouble.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: background characters are references to other shit I like  
> Also Me: *names Virgil's bully after the asshole from their class*

November 5, 2019

[There’s a messy drawing made with pencils. It’s a continent. You see several parts empathized with pens. They’re labeled in a smaller than normal handwriting. Forest, swamps, valley, coastline, lake, capital… and all of them are underlined in different colours. Red, green, blue, yellow, purple… There’s also a roughly done compass at one corner of the page.]

This is more or less the map we shall be using for our games. It might change later, but I already made the basis and I refuse to redo them.

I still haven’t figured the complete plot, nor my own character. I was thinking maybe an explorer. 

I have gotten several suggestions from the twins about the plot of the story, but I still can’t decide between have them go to the coastline or to the valleys. Or maybe for the first time they stick to the capital.

The others’s characters haven’t been fully developed, but the party consists of a bard (Remus), a knight (Patton), a healer (Eden), a wizard? Witch? What’s the correct terminology for what he does? (Roman), a some sort of archer thief rogue weird thingie (Virgil) and me. An explorer. With magic, because if everyone has cool powers and weapons so do I.

I’m only writing this to keep track of it. Because I know myself, and if I don’t I’ll forget all the important details and only remember the dumb ones like Virgil’s character liking cats.

So, Important Stuff to remember.

There’s a monster in the valleys that eats children at night. There’s also the mines nearby, and in there I’ll probably create more monsters to haunt them.

The capital has two guilds of witches, the dragons and the demons witches. And they hate each other for some reason.

Eden told me that his character used to be a noble, but since he didn’t give me details, I’m going to make him an ex-prince, just to fuel the drama (I think that’s what Roman called conflict based on emotions.) when his parents and older siblings die.

And apart from that, I don’t have much to say.

Finally, ending the goddamned map. It took me all the recess, and it’s not even that good.

I’ll have to continue it on the weekend, because I have to finish this work project on my own (the teacher didn’t let anyone help me because they already had their own groups) for tomorrow, and not even with Nadir’s help I will be able of finishing it on time.

But well, here I am, procrastinating on doing it by writing here. Great job, Logan, great job.

At least it’s Thursday and the weekend is near. Antoinette says we get to go out for a bit on the weekends, and I really want to check the town.

I also found this weird book. It’s drawings were very good, they reminded me of those made by Maria Merian, but even more realistic. And with less invertebrates.

Anyways, I have to leave, and do something actually productive. I’m in English class. I find it ironic that I (an immigrant) have better English grammar than most of my English speaking classmates.

And if the teacher mocks Nadir’s accent one more time I’m going to throw a book at her.

-Nerd.

Fifth of November, 2019, 14:03 am, ending of math class.

Ok, so, math class. Tedious. But I’m not that bad. It should be easy to pass.

Besides, there’s a weird tranquility on working with numbers. Numbers are predictable, never changing, you know what they are and how they behave.

Yet still, like human relationships, one tiny mistake can fuck up the whole equation.

I’m looking too much into this, it’s just maths.

And tomorrow’s the exam! Yay!

Someone knock me unconscious, this class is never going to end.

Come on, just ten more minutes, I can survive that, right? Right?

Whoever invented classroom’s clocks made a really bad job. The one in this class is stuck on half past eleven for all eternity. I’m checking the time on my phone.

Oh, yeah, I didn’t mention that. I got my old phone back. I still have the old games in, including the nightmare that Episode is. I deinstalled that one, I don’t like it anymore.

Heck, I even have my old contacts there. It’s too bad there’s no wifi here, maybe I could contact some of my old friends.

They’ve probably forgotten about me, so I suppose it doesn’t matter.

I just miss them, you know? Heck, most of them weren’t that close to me and I’d still kill to see them again.

I think I only had two close ones. Although I don’t know if they considered me as good of a friend as I considered them. I kinda miss them some times.

Finally! Torture Math class is over! It was taking it’s fucking time.

I’m going to go talk to the others. I think we’re going out or something this weekend? I dunno, I just wanna see them.

–Janus D.C.–

[There’s a doodle of a little devil with a trident teaching math. The equation written on the mini chalkboard makes no sense.]

Virgil had a bad habit of reading as he walked. Reading the WhatsApp on his phone, reading the things he had written on his journal, reading a book from class, he would do that and walk at the same time. He never bumped into things, unless people bumped into him on purpose or accident.

Right now, he was reading his agenda, trying to figure out whether to start with the literature homework or finish the geography project first.

Then someone tripped him.

He fell to the floor, as his agenda went sliding down the hall. Virgil groaned in pain and started getting up, trying not to be crushed by the weight of his own backpack.

Someone laughed above him. He looked up, ready to curse them, and stopped.

Iker stared right at him. His arm was still in a cast. “What’s wrong, little shit? Are you not going to get up, or what?”

Virgil got up, leaving his bag on the floor. He wanted to punch this asshole in the face, yet he noticed the kids behind him, snickering at him.

He gritted his teeth and moved to grab his backpack and agenda and ignore the crap out of this asshole.

“Wait.” Iker said, finally recognizing Virgil. “I know who you are. You’re the loser that made me end up here.”

“Wow, shockers.” Virgil muttered, starting to walk away. Just grab his planner and get the fuck away from there.

Iker grabbed him by the arm and pushed him against the wall. “You little shit, where do you think you’re going?”

Virgil pushed him away. “None of your business, fuck off.”

Iker pushed him back. “Are you talking back to m–”

“Iker.” Someone called. “Hannah is looking for you. Something about a fight…?”

Iker let go of Virgil and turned to the new kid. “You sure? Fuck, where is she?”

“I saw her at cafeteria, but she might’ve gone somewhere else.” The kid said.

Iker nodded and left. The crowd of other kids followed shortly. The kid got Virgil’s planner from the floor and offered it to him.

“Here.” He said. “I’m sorry about Iker, he’s an asshole.”

Virgil took his agenda and brushed the dust off it. “Yeah, I know, we’ve met.”

“Really? I hadn’t seen you around here before.” The kid said.

“Yeah, I broke his arm a few months ago.” He said. “I didn’t know he ended up here.”

“Wait, you’re the guy who did that?” The kid asked, in disbelief. “He told everyone he got it broken after fighting with his father. That’s how he ended up here. His father got tired of him. Just like mine.”

“Tough luck.” Virgil said. “Can’t feel bad for him, though. I’m Virgil.”

“Phillipe” The kid, Phillipe, said.

Virgil stared at his agenda for a few seconds, not knowing what to say.

“So…” Phillipe said. “I’ll see you around?” He waved, already starting to leave.

“Yeah, see you around.” Virgil said, offering him a small wave as well.

He turned away from Phillipe and started making his way to the library. The others would be waiting for him.

“You.” Nadir said. “Are an idiot.”

Logan looked at him and pouted. “You’re welcome.” He said, sitting next to him.

Never in his whole life had Logan expected to end in detention. Especially on his second day of school.

But here he was, with Nadir, sitting in the back of the detention room. Remus hadn’t been joking when he said it was boring as fuck.

He pulled out his draft for the project and started polishing it. He might have gotten detention, but he wasn’t going to let it affect his grades.

The teacher, an old man with a husky voice, fell asleep after five minutes of silence.

Nadir passed him a cookie he had smuggled to detention class. “I still think you’re an idiot.”

“Thanks.” Logan said, eating the cookie. “Does he always sleep through the class?” He pointed at the sleeping teacher.

“Yep.” He said. “This is my second time here, and the first time Erik and Antoinette started throwing paper balls at him. He didn’t wake up.”

Logan laughed. “How did you end up here the first time?”

“We got into a fight with some jerks older than us.” Nadir said. “Long story. Antoinette broke a kid’s nose.”

Logan couldn’t help to laugh. “I didn’t see that coming from her.”

“You’d be surprised…” Nadir said. He threw the cap of the pen at the sleeping teacher. “The other kids haven’t bothered us since.”

“Oh, really?” Logan said. He was tempted to throw something at the teacher as well. “And how’s that?”

“This place has a weird ‘three strikes’ policy. After you get sent to detention three times, they send you to Ms Hudson, and she scolds you personally or something? I dunno, this is my second strike. The thing is that after that talk, the kids don’t misbehave ever again.”

“How does she manage to do that?” Logan asked. He gave in to the urge and threw a small piece of rubber to the teacher. No response.

“No idea.” Nadir said. “She just does. Erik will find out next time he gets in trouble. Which will be soon, considering Erik’s a magnet for trouble.”

“Just like Remus.” Logan said. “He got detention on his first day.”

“Look who’s talking, you managed to get into trouble on the second day.” Nadir said, elbowing him.

“But I had a good reason.” Logan said. “Not just cursing.” He crossed his arms. “She was a bitch.”

“She is a bitch.” Nadir said. “But you were an idiot by listening to her. Just tune her out, that’s what I do.”

“She was mocking you!” Logan said. “An actual adult was mocking you and I’m not going to just sit around and watch!”

“I’m used to it.” Nadir said. “And stop shouting, you’re gonna wake him up.”

“That is wrong in so many levels.” Logan said, lowering his voice to an acceptable tone. “You shouldn’t be used to it.”

“I know, Logan.” Nadir said. “Now, didn’t you have a project to work one?”

Logan grumbled. “Fine.” He said, focusing back on his project. “But I’m not sorry.”

“Neither am I. Did you see her face?” Nadir said. “Demolished by the smart talk of a twelve year old. Hilarious.”

Just when Logan was about to speak again, the door opened softly. Antoinette peered inside for a second and smiled. She turned to look outside and whispered to someone.

“Cost is clear!” She said, opening the door wider.

“You took your time…” Nadir said, smirking at Antoinette.

Antoinette entered the room. “Hush. Or I’ll leave the timer alone and you’ll have to get through the whole thing.”

“Hurry up!” Erik’s voice came from outside.

“Don’t haste me!” Antoinette said. “Unless you want to give it a try yourself.”

Logan blinked confused. “What is happening?”

“The teacher uses a timer to tell how long detention has to be. Antoinette knows a way to make it ring quicker.” Nadir explained. “She refuses to explain how she figured it out.”

“If I told you, it would no longer be fun, would it?” Antoinette said. She grabbed the teacher’s timer–a small, egg like shaped green object Logan hadn’t realized it was a timer– and started fiddling with it.

Logan tried to see what she was doing, but Antoinette hid the object behind her. He pouted.

“Done.” Antoinette said. “Now you just have two minutes left of detention.”

“Get out of there before they catch you.” Erik whispered shouted from the door.

“Jeez, ok, ok, coming.” Antoinette said. “See ya in two minutes. Oh, and Logan? Your weird old friends were looking for you.”

Logan smiled and waved goodbye as Antoinette left. He and Nadir pretended to be working, while kicking each other’s feet under the table, until the timer rang and the teacher decided to send them away.

He waved goodbye to Nadir and went to the library. The others should be there.

He was not surprised when he saw Remus sitting upside down on his chair.

This was normal. This was fine. It was just Remus being Remus.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How you enjoyed, leave a comment to raise my self esteem!
> 
> (also I better start writing again, cause this is the last prewritten chapter I had)


	10. It comes in the dark.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 5 of November  
> Just a short bathroom trip.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's Wednesday my dudes.  
> Have a cookie.
> 
> '[...]' means the text in the journals is too scribbled and too hard to read that you just can't make out anything that makes sense.

5 of November,

If you lived your whole life in the valleys, you’d understand why everyone locks the doors at night, draws the curtains close and cover their heads with their blankets. Why the dogs and cats are let inside, and the living stock has its own inner buildings. Why no one goes out at night.

Because if you do, there will be nothing left of you to find.

_It comes at dark. Always at the moment when the skies become orange. It comes, and if you’re unlucky enough, you might hear it walk, dragging its fingers against the walls of your house. They say the sound is maddening._

_No one knows for sure what it looks like. The few damned souls that saw it and survived haven’t been able to speak ever since. Everyone is wiser than that, covering their heads with blankets and praying not to hear a thing._

_The locked doors don’t always work._

_It tears through them when it’s particularly hungry, when it doesn’t hold back any longer._

_In the morning, all that is left are broken windows and an undone bed._

_You may try to run. To escape it. But it’s too late. It grabs you by the hair and pulls you away, away to the mountains where no one can hear you scream._

Then dawn comes around, and a new day arrives. And everyone goes back to their lifes.

Until night comes back.

~Princey

“I need to go to the bathroom.” Eden said, getting up from his seat. “Biology can wait until I pee.” He grabbed his backpack and pulled out a box of Kleenex. Everyone knew that high schools didn’t actually have toilet paper.

Remus immediately sat up. “I need to take a shit too. I’ll go with you.” He said, grabbing his backpack.

Logan raised an eyebrow. “You went to the toilet half an hour ago with Patton and Roman. Is your bladder that small?”

“Maybe.” Remus said, voice cracking. “Anyways, it’s none of your business, let’s go Deedee.” He said, grabbing Eden’s hand and pulling him away.

Patton watched them go, momentarily stopping from writing on his journal. He turned to face the others, that were still doing theirs. Virgil looked a moment away from screaming in frustration.

“So… am I the only one that finds that weird?” Patton said, pointing at where Eden and Remus had been.

“Yes.” Roman said, not even bothering to look up from his homework. “You keep looking at things as they are not, Pat.”

“Is this about the whole ‘Patton is convinced Eden and Remus are dating’ again?” Virgil asked. “Where did that ever come from?”

“I never said I thought that!” Patton said, crossing his arms. “I said those two were very close.”

“Yes, implying something more with the tone of your voice.” Logan said. “And your body language. And the diary entries also suggested you believed it so.”

Patton pouted. “I just think they’d be cute.” He muttered.

“My brother.” Roman said. “And fossil nerd. Cute together.”

“Well, maybe?” Patton said. “I’m just saying…”

Roman laughed. “Never. That would never happen.”

“If you bet on this, I’m keeping score.” Virgil said.

“We’re not betting on this.” Both Roman and Patton said at the same time.

“Then hush.” Logan said. “I can’t concentrate if you keep gossiping like _housewives_ ”

Roman grumbled something under his breath, but kept quiet, giving Logan the peace he wanted.

2020/11/5

I said I’d write again, and here I am! Not much has happened.

Logan, as I suspected, didn’t have the strength to create a world out of nowhere. So we helped! And now it’s my turn to design part of the world.

I have to do the forest. And forests have so much potential you know? Fairies, and imps and little spirits that like to cause mischief, all living inside forests. Little societies of gnomes coexisting.

I like to imagine that fairies are just chaotic benefactors. If you come there with the intent of hurting others, they’ll hurt you, but if you need a place to stay the night, or somewhere to run away to, they’ll help you.

Gnomes are just nice. Nice and very hardworking.

And imps are just fun to play with. Prank wars must be the best.

Oh, maybe I should also add dryads. But not the mean ones that try to drown you. The ones that’ll help you wash your clothes if you agree to play with them afterwards.

It’s just! Forests have such potential! To be awful and horrid and scary, like the one near my home. But I want it to be nice. I want our characters to have a nice time in the forest, not what I had.

I never told anyone, not really. It isn’t that of a interesting story.

I got lost. It was autumn and I wanted to collect the pretty orange leaves that you always see depicted in cartoons, but almost never see in real life.

I can’t remember what I wanted them for. Maybe I just wanted to see them in real life, who knows.

The thing is, I never got to see them. I got lost, after running around searching for what felt hours, and I didn’t know how to go back.

I spent the night there, in the forest, against a tree, hardly sleeping. Every little sound scared me. I don’t know how long I stayed up, being startled by the minimum movement around me. It was not exactly a pleasant night.

They found me in the morning and took me home. I can’t remember who did, it was some neighbour that moved away after a few years.

So that’s why I want the forest to be nice. Cause I know the others, and how much they like the drama and the angst, so I decided to give the characters a break.

Also fairies are cool.

-Dad :D

“Why did you walk with me if you didn’t have to pee?” Eden asked, as they started making their way back to the library.

“Boredom.” Remus said.

Eden rolled his eyes but didn’t ask further.

Remus started feeling relieved nothing weird had happened as they went back. Then he jinxed it.

He turned around the corner towards the library, and found himself in the same corridor than before.

“Oh, _FUCK_.” He said, startling Eden.

“What the frickity fuck, Remus?” Eden said. “We just got the wrong turn, let’s just turn ba–” He said, turning around, only to face a wall. “Ok, _that_ ” he said, pointing at the wall “wasn’t there before.”

“Let’s just keep going, this seems to only happen when it’s two people or less.” Remus said, taking Eden’s hand and dragging him away from the wall. “Or maybe Roman is just immune or something. It happened with Patton too.”

“Ok, Remus, what are you talking about?” Eden asked.

Remus starter trying doorknobs. “I keep getting here, no matter what I do. This is the third time already.” He managed to open a door, and waited for Eden to approach him. “The only way out is getting inside this one room and then the maze seems to go away.”

Eden pulled out his phone and used it as a flashlight as he entered.

The room was wall to wall covered in empty bookshelves, and the floor was full of dust and dry mud. Eden repressed a shiver when he felt a breeze pass through him. There was no window.

“The table is missing.” Remus said, breaking Eden from his trance. He walked over where the table had been. “There used to be a table over here.”

Eden looked at the bookshelves and at the ceiling. “Haven’t you thought about, I dunno, mentioning this to any of us?”

“Oh, yes, let me just tell you about the weird creepy room that seems to want me to _die_ in here or something!” Remus said. He turned and grabbed Eden by the arm. “Let’s just leave.”

Remus made it through the door when he felt Eden slip from his grasp. He turned around to look, and the door slammed in his face.

His hands scrambled to the doorknob, trying to force it open.

“Eden!” He shouted, not caring if anyone might hear. “Eden this is not funny!”

He heard a thump on the other side of the door and pushed harder. The door wouldn’t budge. He cursed and tried again.

“Remus” He heard Eden’s voice, although muffled. “Remus I dropped my phone. I can’t see a thing, where are you?”

Remus allowed himself to feel relieved for a moment, before trying to open the door again. “On the other side of this stupid door, that doesn’t! Want! To open!” He said, pulling the door several times and falling to his ass in his last attempt.

He waited for Eden to respond, to say anything that reassured him that he was ok. But there was nothing. Only silence.

So Remus got back up and started trying harder.

He didn’t actually think it would work. He had tried before and failed why would it work now? But he kept trying, because there was nothing else to do and he refused to leave Dee alone in there.

And finally, the door budged, and Remus felt back down as Eden rushed outside the room.

He tripped over Remus and fell on top of him.

Remus pushed him gently to the side, sitting up.

“You alright?” He asked, grabbing Eden by the shoulders. “You weren’t hurt, right?”

Eden gulped, focusing his gaze on Remus after a few seconds. “Yeah, yeah, I’m ok, I’m fine.” He said, sitting up too.

Remus let out a noise that might have been interpreted such a sob, and wrapped his arms around Eden, squeezing tightly.

“I’m sorry.” He mumbled, as Eden reciprocated in the hug. He hid his face on Eden’s shoulder and apologised again.

“It’s ok, I was just spooked.” Eden said, running a hand through Remus’s hair. “Come on, the others must’ve been waiting for us.”

Remus nodded, separating himself from the hug. He got up and pulled Eden to his feet as well.

None of them commented a thing as they made their way back, holding each other hand as if their life depended on it.

Fifth of November, 2019, 23:27pm, bedroom.

Apparently, our trip of five minutes to the bathroom felt like half an hour to the rest of our friends. That will do wonders with Patton’s imagination of me and Remus.

Yes, I read those entries. I read all of them.

I know I told Remus that maybe telling us about the whole maze like corridor that keeps haunting him might be a good idea. But ~~I can’t~~ ~~I couldn’t bring~~ I just wasn’t able of talking about ~~mo~~ that ~~thing~~ voice.

God, I’m sounding like a lunatic, aren’t I?

It was a small room, filled with shelves filled only with dust and old spiderwebs. It was cold, as if someone had left a window open, but there was no windows. No light. Just… dust. Remus claimed there used to be a table, but I can’t even imagine one fitting inside such a small room.

It wasn’t that weird at first, except for the wall appearing out of nowhere. Just another room in this old school building. The detention room looked as old as this one, although it definitively had more windows and space.

Then Remus grabbed me to get out, and something grabbed me to stop him.

I say ‘something’, as if a material person or object did that, but I didn’t actually feel anything touch me. I was just pulled backwards.

Then I lost my phone and the light went out.

I could hear Remus from the other side at first, [the following part is almost unreadable] ~~but~~ […] ~~I heard~~ […] ~~It almost sounded~~ […], ~~when I would~~ […] ~~the garden and she would~~ […] ~~come back home~~.

It’s stupid, it was just my stupid imagination.

I was just getting paranoid because I don’t like the dark.

I’m going to sleep now. I have an exam tomorrow. And Patton says exams go better if you’re well rested.

–Janus D.C.–

[There’s a smaller doodle than normal, of a little poppy with a bee.]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed! Leave a comment if you liked it!


	11. Fridays are supposed to be the good days.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sixth of November, finally fucking Friday.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm officially out of prewritten chapters. Thank fuck it's holidays, otherwise I'd be fucked.  
> Anyways, enjoy!

Sixth of November, 2019, 7:35am, cafeteria.

[There’s a stain of milk in the top corner of the page]

Ok, so today is the exam. I should be more nervous for this, but somehow I’m kinda numb about it.

We got yogurt fro breakfast, which is a weird choice. Yes, I’m writing this while eating. So are the others. I managed to ignore the stupid voice telling them not to use this in front of them. I mean, why would they judge me? They literally started it.

Apart from math exam, I have to stand my tutor once again today. I’ve only known her for two days and I already know she’s incompetent. My mom explained English better than her, and she was a history teacher.

Speaking of history, we’re finally learning about the French Revolution, and all that mess during the 18th century. I was so excited for that, thankful that they hadn’t already spoken about it without me. But then I realised they don’t even mention the bathtub gremlin. Like, why bother teaching about the French Revolution if you’re not going to mention the bathtub gremlin that got people killed?

Anyways, Charlotte Corday is cool and you cannot tell me otherwise.

I think the others are getting tired of me dumping all the information about this guys life on them, but I don’t care. That’s what they get from being my friend. Knowledge about a bathtub gremlin.

Fuck, breakfast is about to en

FUCK. Fuck me. Fuck this. God, I’m such an idiot.

I left my phone in the room.

–Janus D.C.–

[There’s a doodle of a man in a bathtub looking surprised when a woman with a knife attacks him, saying ‘vibe check’.]

November 6, 2019

I have planned a lot of things for the weekend. Patton has talked about going out to the town and look around. I wanted to go with Antoinette and the others, they were going to show me around. And Virgil has searched for the mall in google maps, and now the twins and him want to go to buy ‘stuff’ with the little money they were given before arriving here.

So, we’ll see how it goes. I believe Patton has made a list of the possible activities to do during the next two days.

Eden has been rambling about this guy. From the French Revolution. He was complaining (whining like a little bitch as Remus would say) about the fact that he didn’t appear in the textbook. The only things I’ve retained from the chat was that his name was Marat, he lived in a bathtub, murdered people, had a sword fight for his honour at some point and got ‘vibe checked’ by a ‘badass’ woman. Eden is not exactly the best teacher.

Shit, I just realised I haven’t developed the capital from our game yet. I’ll do it later, breakfast time is about to finish. We agreed to start tomorrow.

I have to go to class now.

-Nerd

2019/11/6

Ok, so it’s Friday! I love Fridays. They’re the best days.

We were talking about what we could do tomorrow, and I’ve made a list:

[The list is very unorganized, some items being highlighted with colours, others with varying sizes and other in full caps. There’re hearts doodled on the margins.

-Go to the park.

-Search for an ice cream place.

-Get a tour from Erik and friends (as long as they agree to do so first.)

-Just wonder around and try not to get hit by any car.

-Search for a library that has better books than the school’s.

-Go pat the stray cats tiny heads and provide cuddles (Logan and Virgil don’t like this one)

-Go to the mall and buy cool things and clothes.

-Drag Eden to a second hand clothes store and get him a brand new wardrobe.

-Get lost in the forest near the park and look for frogs. Frogs are cute.

-Dad :D

[Roman’s entry is just a small landscape, with mountains and trees and a small river. He has used several different coloured pens.]

[Remus’s entry consists on many different doodles of octopi and octopus-like aliens. There’s only one sentence.]

Leave my friends alone.

Roman hummed a song as he made his way towards the library. He didn’t remember which song it was, but knowing himself, it was probably Disney.

He took another bite of his mushy sandwich. He had thirty minutes to meet with the others and he wasn’t going to waste them.

And then he got lost.

Or so he thought, as he made the usual turn to the left that should lead him straight to the library and found himself somewhere else. He frowned, stopping his humming and turned back.

There was a wall there.

Roman blinked, confused, and poked the wall. Yep, it was definitively real.

“What the fuck” He muttered turning back to the hallway. “What the frickity fuck”

He gripped his school bag tighter and kept walking. He must have dropped the sandwich somewhere along the way, because when he realized, it was gone.

Roman walked faster than he usually did, but could you blame him? He didn’t know where he was, how he got there, nor why the ground was so dirty.

Then he halted. Someone had called out to him.

He waited for a few seconds in silence, waiting to hear it again. Nothing. He resumed his way, and if he quickened his pace, well, that wouldn’t hurt anyone.

“Remus” He heard.

He froze again. Was that…? No, it couldn’t be, he’d seen Eden with his classmates before changing classes. It would make no sense for him to be here, calling for Roman’s brother.

“Remus” Yet it was his voice, coming from a room. “Where are you?”

Roman turned to the door where he swore the voice was coming from. “Eden?” He asked. “It’s me, Roman. Remus had French selective, he’s not here.”

He didn’t know why he was doing this, but he approached the door. And waited for Eden to respond. And waited.

But there was no answer.

“Eden?” He called again, hand rested over the door’s handle.

And suddenly, there was music.

Not from the room in front of him, but from somewhere else.

He turned away from the door and tried to determine where it was coming from. It was a soft piano melody.

Roman walked through the corridor, ignoring the impulse of going back to where he had heard Eden’s voice. It was probably just his imagination. He had always had a wild one, anyways.

He entered into the room where the music was coming from.

And then the music stopped, and he was left staring at the eyes of the kid who had been playing the old dusty piano that was resting there.

“…hi Roman.” The kid said. Wait, he knew this kid?

Oh, right, Logan’s friend. What was his name again? Something with an E. Like Eden. Eden who might be in the other room.

He shoved that thought away and waved at the kid. “Hey. I didn’t know the school had a music room.”

“It doesn’t.” The kid said. “It’s no longer used, I just sneak here some days during recess.”

“Oh. Cool.” Roman said. “So you… play piano?” He said, awkwardly trying to find a conversation topic.

“I do.” The kid said. “You?”

“Eh, I had some classes when I was younger, but they didn’t help much.” Roman said. “Yours seem to work, for what I heard.”

“Oh, no, I didn’t go to classes.” The kid said. “I just learned on my own.”

“Wow, that’s impressive. No mystery Logan likes you so much.” Roman said.

The kid blushed. “He does?” He said, looking away. “We barely know each other…”

“Well, Logan has always been one to make friends easily. At least he was with me.” Roman said, shrugging. “Besides, you and your friends all seem very cool.”

“Yeah, they are…” The kid said. He got up from his seat at the piano. “I should get going, class should be about to start.”

“Yeah, you’re right, let’s go.” Roman said, opening the door and waiting for the kid.

The kid hesitated for a second, before walking towards Roman and crossing through the door. Roman followed him as they made their way through the corridor.

He stopped for a second at the door from before. He tried opening for a second, check if Eden was truly there.

Nothing. Blocked.

He shrugged to himself and continued following the kid.

He should really ask for a name. Or try to remember. He couldn’t keep referring to him as ‘the kid’ or ‘Logan’s friend’.

They waved each other goodbye and headed to their own classes.

Roman was five minutes late to class. He got a warning.

 _That’s weird_ , Roman thought, _it didn’t feel like more than ten minutes_.

2019, November 6,

Ok, so today is weird. Very weird.

First, Remus barely talked during the breakfast, and it wasn’t because Eden was talking too much about this bathtub gremlin killer. We’re talking Remus. He will interrupt you with a gross thought anytime.

Then class, well, that was as boring as always. I almost finished copying all the other’s notes.

I keep getting flinchish every time my name gets called out in class. Even if its for a question. I just hate the feeling that I’m going to fuck up and everyone will laugh at me. Is it stupid? Yes. Does that stop the feeling? Nope.

Then in recess, neither Eden nor Roman showed up. And when Logan asked Remus about his part for the game night, he said he hadn’t done anything. Remus. Not doing anything. That’s just wrong. It’s like me walking into a room full of people and starting to talk to all of them.

Roman came to class fifteen minutes late, saying he was with Logan’s friend. I don’t know which of the three new ones he meant.

And Eden has gone quieter than before. He’s gone from rambling on breakfast to barely saying a thing. He was apparently late to his math exam because he was searching for his phone, so maybe he’s upset because of that. Although Eden doing badly in math will mean he’ll still get at least two points more than I would get doing my best.

So yeah, something’s weird here. And considering the last time I thought something was wrong it ended up being the Warden’s weird illegal shit… well, let’s hope there’s no arson involved.

On the good news, Phillipe helped me catch up for the upcoming exam, and Peter was just as much of a nerd as always. I don’t know a single soul who likes physics as he does. Even Nerd hates physics. He says they’re, and I quote, ‘as if someone took maths and extracted everything that makes sense from them, then added a bunch of magnitudes no one wanted’.

I love how he implies math makes sense.

Anyways, everyone is still quiet, and Logan’s gone with his three friends.

This is too weird.

-Emo.

“Ok.” Virgil said. “This is enough.”

The others looked at him. No one said a thing.

“What’s wrong? You’re like… too quiet!” He said.

Remus shrugged. “Homework is sucking our brains off, I guess.” He said.

“Virgil’s right. Not even homework can make you stop talking, what’s wrong?” Patton asked.

“I’m just pissed cause the teacher told me off in front of the whole class.” Roman said. “I wasn’t that late”

“You were fifteen minutes late.” Remus said. “Where the hell were you, anyways?”

“This weird corridor shit.” Roman said. “I must have been daydreaming, I though I heard Eden there, which is dumb cause he was with you guys.”

“I wasn’t.” Eden said, voice quieter than normal.

“Oh. Well, it was probably just my imagination anyways.” Roman said, smiling nervously.

“Wait, you heard him saying what?” Virgil asked.

“Calling for Remus.” Roman said. “But it was probably just the wind or something.”

“The wind doesn’t sound like voices.” Patton pointed out.

“Well, something else then.” Roman said. “I didn’t even see Eden, I just stumbled upon Logan’s friend and we talked for a bit.”

“Sure, whatever you say.” Virgil said. He turned to face Eden. “And where were you?”

Eden shrugged. “Getting my phone.”

“That’s not a location.” Roman said. 

“Why does he get to have a phone anyways?” Remus muttered.

“Because you threw yours at the toilet, dumbass.” Roman said.

Remus sticked his tongue at him. Patton laughed.

“Ok, I know what you’re doing.” Virgil said. “You’re deflecting our questions with shitty humour.”

Eden shrugged. “There’s nothing to say, honestly. I got my phone, I got back. The end.” He got up and grabbed his stuff. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I can’t concentrate in my homework with all you four quarreling like four year olds.”

“Eden!” Remus called, chasing after him. “Eden wait!” He grabbed him by the arm, making him turn around. “We gotta tell them.”

Eden scowled. “No.” He said. “You have to tell them. I don’t have to do shit.”

He pulled his arm from Remus’s grip and walked away.

“Ok, this shit is getting intense, and I don’t like it.” Virgil said. “What the fuck do you have to tell us?”

“I should get to Eden…” Remus said.

Roman held him back. “Let him go. If you talk now you’re only going to fight.”

“Fine.” Remus mumbled, sitting down again. He ran a hand through his hair. “Where the fuck do I start?”

The same day, hours later

Apparently, Antoinette has a younger sister. I found out after asking if she would be willing to give us a tour of the town. She said she had promised her sister to go with her to the zoo, so she couldn’t. Nadir and Erik offered to do so, so we still have a guide. Well, two guides. But considering how much this two bicker, it’s going to be a mess. A good mess.

Nadir also mentioned something about Antoinette’s sister’s friends and how annoying they were. He also teased Erik over his ‘crush on his little angel’. Yes, I’m quoting. I don’t know what happened there and I’m afraid to ask.

Anyways, I should be getting back to the others. I have to see if Remus has already thought of his part. It’s weird, I had assumed he and Roman would be the ones with the best world building. Roman did live to my expectations, but Remus surprised me. It’s fine, though, I’m sure he’ll get his creativity working in no time.

-Nerd

Virgil walked through the cafeteria. He had already looked through the cafeteria twice, but he still didn’t find trace of Eden.

He was having a hard time believing what Remus said. Weird corridors appearing out of nowhere? The same room over and over again? Doors closing on their own? It just sounded like a bad plotted nightmare.

Still, he gave Remus the benefit of the doubt, specially after Roman and Patton vouched for him. Patton claimed to have been in the room with Remus once, although nothing happened to them then, except finding a weird book. That later appeared in Remus’s school bag. And Roman said he had felt like going inside the room, but that he found Logan’s friend before that.

So yeah, school was haunted. Great. Just what Virgil needed this year. Another shit-like adventure.

And now Patton was looking for Logan to explain all the shit Remus said, and the twins and Virgil were looking for Eden.

Remus had insisted on having their phones near, so if they came across the weird corridor they could warn each other.

Of course, that meant he had to go with Roman, because he had so smartly dumped his phone into the toilet two weeks before ending in Camp Green Shit.

Eden was not in the cafeteria. Virgil checked his phone for new messages. Nothing.

He sighted, and moved to the playground.

Virgil was about to leave the playground when he heard a sound.

It wasn’t Eden, but he approached the sound.

A small kitten was in a corner of the playground, waiting for something.

As soon as Virgil appeared, the cat jumped to its feet and hissed at him.

“Ok, got it.” Virgil said, backing away. “Kitty doesn’t want company.”

“No, she wants food.” A voice said, behind him.

Virgil turned, and found Peter rummaging through his school bag, looking for something. He pulled out a can of tuna and opened it.

“Hold this.” He said, tossing his backpack to Virgil. He crouched in front of the cat. “Hi kitty, it’s me, ya boi.”

“Must you speak in memes?” Virgil asked, leaving Peter’s bag in the ground next to his own. “And since when do you carry food in your bag?”

“Since I met Loki.” Peter said, offering the cat a bit of tuna. “She’s always hungry.”

“You named the cat.” Virgil said. “I barely know you, and I already know I shouldn’t be surprised.”

“She’s a little mischief maker, of course I’d name her Loki.” Peter said. “Do you want to give her tuna too? She’ll like you more.”

“Fine.” Virgil said, crouching next to Peter. He took a piece of tuna and extended. His hand towards the cat, who glared at him with a demonic glance. “Where did you get the tuna, anyways?”

“I asked Aunt May to send me a few cans per week.” Peter said.

“Aunt May?” Virgil asked, looking at the cat–he refused to name a stray cat Loki– as it ate from his hand.

“My aunt.” Peter said. “She’s old, so she can’t take care of me all the time, but she comes to visit me some weekends and we send each other letters all the time.”

“She sounds nice.” Virgil said.

“She is.” Peter agreed.

“So…” Virgil said, taking more tuna to offer to the cat. “You won’t have seen a friend of mines by chance, have you?”

“I saw the twins. And Patton. Patton’s nice.” Peter said. “You looking for them?”

“No, I’m looking for Eden.” Virgil said. “Two years older than me, baggy clothes, half face is scarred?”

Peter seemed to think. “No, I don’t think I’ve seen him.” He said. “Sorry.”

“It’s ok.” Virgil said, petting the cat for the last time before getting up. “Imma keep searching for him. See ya later.”

“See ya” Peter said, waving at him before turning back his focus to the cat.

Virgil scoffed. If Peter kept feeding stray animals, he would get an army of them in no time.

He grabbed his backpack from the ground and went back inside. Surely checking on the library again wouldn’t hurt, would it?

Sixth of November, 2019, 17:26pm, old bedroom.

I found my way back to the old bedroom. Sure, it’s cold, and dirty, and the window tried to kill me once, but the others won’t find me here. They won’t even think this as an option to where I might be.

I didn’t want to get angry at them. I was the one who told Remus to speak about this before the whole room thingie.

I hope Remus tells them. I don’t want to go back to that room.

Not again, at least.

I had to go to get my phone. I couldn’t just leave it there. It’s a stupid piece of junk, but it’s my old piece of junk with my old photos of me and my old friends. Who probably don’t even remember me.

And maybe I wanted to see her again, ok?

But I was an idiot, I was a stupid jerk and of course it wasn’t her. It couldn’t be her.

The room had changed. There was no shelves on the walls anymore. Only a cold empty room.

I tried to be quick, grab my phone and leave.

And then the door closed.

I heard his voice. Shouting at me. I looked around, but there was no one. Not even a shadow.

And yet I heard him, as clearly as always.

I’ve had enough flashbacks to distinguish between them and reality.

I know what I heard.

And I don’t know how ~~Father~~ he found me. ~~I thought He had to I killed~~

It just doesn’t make sense.

nothing makes sense

[The writing looks interrupted. The remaining of the page are soaked in water. There’s no drawing today]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is it a bad moment to say that apart from self indulgence, the background characters have a purpose in the story?  
> Yes?  
> Well, have a cookie and leave a comment if you liked it!


	12. Ferb, I know what we're gonna do today!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If you didn't catch the apology chapter, I'm sorry to announce you'll have to wait years until I finish that one wip without a name (I'm bad at tittles)
> 
> Seventh of November, 2019, 7:49am, cafeteria.  
> I'm going to write this once, and only once.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some of you (actually, probably no one) know already that I'm busy as heck with my history project. I am currently animating the third page and final part of the project, and I'll have it done soon. Probably. Maybe. Hopefully.  
> The thing is, I had no time to write today's chapter, and I don't want to rush it and pull shit, cause the next chapter has to be good, or the plot will suffer. Important™ stuff happens.  
> So have this, some scrapes of my other Wip, a project I've been working on for at least ten months or more. Who knows? It's sanders sides, of course, but I'll only post it once I'm done with Poppies and it's finally written entirely.  
> Enjoy!
> 
> Edit:  
> Ok, so I finished the Marat project™, but I'm still busy as heck, so instead of writing this chapter whole, I just... split it. I'll have the other half by next Wednesday, when I'll hopefully be less stressed.  
> Enjoy!

Weekend arrived. It was, quite frankly, not as well received as Logan had expected. He had expected at least the Twins, or Patton to be bouncing with excitement.

Yet, as he opened Google maps and started rambling about the options they had, he noticed everyone was rather quiet.

Patton kept giving small comments, trying to sound cheery, but Logan could see his hands twitching bellow the table, and the strain of his smile.

Roman was pretending to listen, giving small hums and nods, but staring at the distance.

Virgil seemed fixated on his breakfast, although he wasn’t eating fast. He mostly played with his cereals, pushing them around to make forms in the milk.

Eden wasn’t even bothering to pretend he was in the conversation. He just kept writing in his journal. Not even sparing a glance to the others. At least he hadn’t left the table entirely, like he did in Camp Green Lake, but it was still unnerving.

Even Remus was quiet. He was staring at Logan’s phone, yes, but his mind was else where. Where exactly Logan wasn’t sure.

He wasn’t sure he wanted to know.

He ignored the urge of asking what’s wrong. Whatever it was, asking didn’t seem like the correct course of actions. They would just give vague answers, or straight up lie if he asked Eden. And Logan hated vague answers.

So he sighted and accepted the seemingly sour mood, rambling on to his options. At least he could go hang out with Nadir and Antoinette and Erik, and even maybe Antoinette’s sister that same evening. Maybe they would listen to him.

He–and Patton, although he limited himself to agreeing on everything that wasn’t dangerous– decided at the end to go somewhere simple. The park. That would do. There was a big one near, and maybe there would be swings, which had a chance of making at least the Twins a bit more enthusiastic than what they now were.

He announced his choice, and the others agreed. Virgil hurried to finish his breakfast, and Remus poked Eden until he ate his, getting drops of milk on the pages of his journal. He didn’t seem to mind, though.

They agreed to go change and meet moments later in the library, at the same spot as always.

Logan missed how they all gave each other warning glances.

Seventh of November, 2019, 7:49am, cafeteria.

I’m tempted to rip out yesterday’s entry completely. It’s not as if I wish to remember more things about the last two days. I just kind of want to forget it all.

But I can’t, cause memory doesn’t work like that. Yay.

And breaking this journal feels wrong. As if I was tearing part of the others and I’s relationship. Is it a weird feeling? Maybe, but I never said my feelings were rational.

Anyways, I’m writing this once, and once will be enough. No repeating, no going back to the room, and not thinking about this. Maybe that will make the nightmares stop.

It’s funny, I hadn’t had nightmares since Camp Green Shit, and even those stopped by the time Patton showed up.

I’m getting out of the topic. Rambling. I hate when I do that, unable of sticking to the fucking idea I was trying to express.

And… I’m doing it again, aren’t I?

Fuck it, stop being a coward and just write it down.

I heard my mother. The first time, I was convinced it was her talking. But no, apparently she wasn’t there, cause the next time I went into that stupid room it was my father. Screaming at me. So you can kind of understand why I was not in the mood to talk to my friends, especially not about that damned room.

I keep writing these as if the entries were directed at someone. I should stop. I don’t want whoever reads this–if anyone ever does, it would be with no permission–to think they had the right to do so just cause I refer to an imaginary person.

I know it’s not the others fault. I’m the one who lost his fucking phone. Because I’m just so smart.

I could’ve lived without the damned thing, honestly. What’s in it anyways? A high score at Alto’s Adventure, a few WhatsApp chats, a bunch of old photos? I don’t even have data, and I haven’t figured out the school’s wifi password yet, so it’s not as if it works. It’s basically a torch and a calculator.

I looked through the old photos. I didn’t take a lot of me and my friends, I never liked doing so. I did find a few from Halloween’s days, as we liked to go in group costumes.

We. I meant me, and two more guys from my school. They liked musical theatre, so I just went along with whatever Remy suggested. Emile only commanded a group disguise once. The last Halloween I spent with them, actually.

They must have changed a lot by now. I wonder if they’re even friends with each other anymore.

Logan said we could go to the park today. It’s Saturday. The park is probably going to be crowded.

But I don’t have the energy to complain.

Did the others tell Logan about the room? I believe he was with his other friends when Remus and I argued, so there’s a high chance he has no idea.

Well, I might mention it to Remus. He was right–of course he was, I was the one who suggested the idea of communicating before he thought about it. I wonder how much the others _do_ now.

I wonder how much we don’t know.

Anyways, I gotta go change uniform. We’re meeting in the library in about fifteen minutes.

I’ll try to enjoy the weekend.

I’ll keep writing later.

–Janus D.C.–

[There’s a small doodle, of a duck sleeping between red flowers. You’re not sure if the flowers are supposed to be poppies]

Janus didn’t like the school uniform. It was too big for him, and the sweater gave too much heat, but the plain t-shirt and vest made him shiver from the cold. Plus, he didn’t know what was the material the pants were made of, but they itched every time he moved at a faster pace that one of a slug.

So, when he entered his dorm to change from a uniform to another, which he hoped was less itchy, he really started wishing he hadn’t grown so much. Maybe the clothes would fit.

He was on the process of trying to get the t-shirt from being stuck to his head, when someone else entered.

“Hey, have you seen my bro–” A female voice said, looking around the room and spotting Janus. “Oh, sorry.”

Janus blushed, covering his chest. “What do you want?” He asked, trying not too sound too on edge.

The girl, Samantha his mind supplied, kept staring at him. “So the scars go bellow the neck too, huh? Cool. They’re from fire, right? Burn scars, or whatever they’re called.”

“That’s none of your business, Samantha.” Janus hissed, quickly grabbing another shirt and putting it on. It was cleaner, but it still was a size too big for him.

“My name is Esther.” The girl, apparently not a Samantha said. “Are you afraid of fire?”

“Mind your damn business.” Janus said, hurrying to grab another sweater and his shoes. He didn’t want to spend another second with this girl, this Esther.

Esther, however seemed to have other ideas. She entered the room and approached him, ignoring how he hissed at her.

She eyed his journal. “What’s that?”

“Fuck off.” Janus said, oh, so eloquently. He struggled to put his shoes on before reaching for his journal.

But Esther grabbed it first. She flipped it open and looked over the pages. “A diary?”

Janus snatched it out of her hands. “Call it that if it pleases you. Now, if you excuse me, I’ll be going.”

He grabbed his backpack and buried the journal inside.

Esther stared at him as he left.

7/11/2019

The only fucking reason I’m using you right now its because Logan has been bugging me to do the world building part I’d agreed on, and because I don’t want to use other pages of my school notebooks. I already got in trouble for scribbling in the margins, these teachers are so boring. They have a stick up their asses, or something.

Anyways, what the fuck did I have to do?

Oh, yeah, creepy jungle.

You bet your ass I’m making sentient trees that try to strangle you with vines or something. And maybe I would add a swamp section, if that wasn’t Eden’s part. He hasn’t done anything yet either, so we’re both under Logan’s ire.

Well, less ire, more mild annoyance.

So. Patton mentioned having good fairies in his forest. So Imma steal that. And make it evil.

Evil fairies that want to experiment on humans (and other species similar), sentient trees that try to strangle you to dead and more monsters.

Roman made a monster. It was a nice one, but he could’ve made it gorier. So I’m stealing the base idea of that too. And making an even scarier monster.

Ok, so, let’s start narrating or something.

Don’t judge me, weird diary thingie.

_People don’t go to the jungle for a reason. It’s not because it’s muddy and wet and you’ll probably end ruining all your clothes. It’s because of It._

_It. What a vague tittle, isn’t it?_

_No one has seen it completely. All people see are glances, blurry images that last less than a second in the corner of their eyes._

_And, as the folk in the town nearby say, those who do see it fully don’t come back._

_Of course, no one has seen it completely. So there’s no real testimony of what It is._

_There has been heroes. Going to search for the creature in the jungle. Many of them were found dead, to the hands of the many other dangers of the jungle._

_A few were never found again. Maybe an object, a weapon, maybe even a piece of cloth, remained behind, covered in blood. That was all their families could get to grieve._

_There are no funerals for those who disappeared. No rest in peace. No goodbye._

_Only the dead hope that they’ll come back home._

Ok, that’s all the creative writing I can come up with for today.

–DUKE

Logan had been right. The sight of swings had made the Twins snap out of whatever trance they were in, and start racing each other towards them.

Virgil and Patton agreed to try balance the seesaw so Eden could stand on the middle without falling down. Logan observed in fear and resignation.

“Virgil, I thought you were supposed to be smart.” He muttered looking as Eden bowed from the middle of the seesaw. He almost lost balance, and Logan rushed to come near just in case.

Eden laughed nervously. “Come on, Logie, I’m fine. I’m not going to fall.” He said, even though his legs were trembling.

“Until you do.” Logan said. “And don’t call me Logie.”

“LoLo…” Virgil called. “Stop being responsible for five minutes and enjoy yourself.” He said. He started getting up from the seesaw. “Here, let’s see who weights more, you or Patton.”

He stood up, making the seesaw give up on Patton’s side. Eden cursed, throwing himself to the ground before he could fall.

Logan rolled his eyes at the nickname, as he made his way to sit down.

He sat across Patton and waited for the seesaw to balance itself. It didn’t. Logan stayed up.

Eden tsked. “How am I supposed to get in the middle now?”

“HEY DEEDEE, WATCH OUT” Remus screamed.

Eden turned, moments before Remus crashed into him, after jumping from the swing.

They fell to the ground. Logan felt like facepalming, if he wasn’t too scared to let go of the seesaw’s hold.

Remus laughed as he pushed himself up. “That was fun! Imma do it again!”

“Please don’t” Eden said, not getting up for the ground. “You dirtied my uniform.”

“It’s not even your size.” Patton commented. “Didn’t they give you better clothes?”

Eden laughed, getting up. “I wish.” He said.

“Welp. Ferb, I know what we’re gonna do today.” Virgil said patting the dirt out of Eden’s sweater.

“Wut.” Eden said.

“REFERENCE” Shouted Roman, jumping off the swing as well. Unlike Remus, he landed perfectly next to them.

“I’m quite lost.” Eden said.

“Me too.” Logan reassured, trying to find a way to come down from the seesaw.

Roman grabbed Logan and hoisted him over his shoulder, before putting him down. Logan muttered a thanks as he tried to ignore his dizziness.

“How much money do you guys have?” Virgil asked, taking his small wallet out. He looked through it. “I have twenty four bucks, a few mint candies and a picture of a dog.”

“Ooh! Dog!” Patton said, approaching Virgil. “Let me see.”

Virgil passed him the photo. “So… what about you guys?”

“Our parents gave us ten dollars each before we left.” Roman said. “So that’s another twenty bucks.”

“Speak for yourself, I spent all my money in m&ms.” Remus said. “I have three dollars I stole from a guy at Camp ShitShow.”

“That’s thirty seven dollars in total” Logan said. “Why are we counting money, though?”

“Because as much as I love arson, I cannot commit shoplifting.” Virgil said.

“That’s not the same crime.” Logan said. “They’re not even related.”

“Hush.” Virgil said. “We gotta get some clothes for Jekyll and Lie, and I ain’t stealing them.”

Logan rolled his eyes. “Grandma gave me thirty dollars so I could buy more books. Although she said she’d send me even more when she got time.”

“So… sixty seven. Actually, let me check” Patton said, looking through his pockets. He pulled out a five dollar bill. “Seventy… three? I’m bad with maths.”

“Two. Seventy two.” Eden said. “And you’re not seriously contemplating buying me clothes.”

“Yeah. We are.” Remus said. “You look like a posh boy in that clothes. And red doesn’t suit you.”

“Of course it doesn’t, it’s my colour.” Roman muttered.

“It’s lunch time, though.” Logan said. “We should get going. We’ll buy them later.”

“Yeah bois, shopping spree time!” Remus said.

“You and Virgil are walking memes.” Logan said. “I hate it.”

“No you don’t.” Virgil said.

Logan grumbled something, pouting. But he knew Virgil was right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed! I'll edit this chapter next week to actually show the chapter, instead of this scrapes I'm giving you today.
> 
> Happy three wise men day!
> 
> Edit:  
> Hope you enjoyed! Leave a comment if you want to make me happy!  
> Have some chocolate


	13. Lokitty is the cutest and suffering to prove it is worth it

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Seventh of November, 2019, 14:03pm, cafeteria.
> 
> Remus will not stop trying to snort grated cheese.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this in online class, and I'm not sorry.  
> Enjoy!

2019/11/7

Today’s Saturday! We’ve been to the park, and it was nice. Although I got mud on my shoes, that’s not so nice. We’re gonna go shopping in the mall and try to find something Dee can wear so he doesn’t look like he’s using his none existent older brother’s clothes.

I’ve been trying to make everyone a bit cheerier. So far it’s working, but it’s still… strained on some parts. Remus and Eden aren’t speaking. Remus is fidgety. We agreed to let the matter rest until Monday, but I’m starting to think we should tell Logan soon.

I think he’s noticing the weird vibes everyone’s got.

We’re leaving in five minutes, so Imma stop writing and finish my meal. I don’t enjoy peas much, but at least it’s not spinach. Those are the worst.

I’ll keep ya updated.

-Dad :D

“Remus, dumbass, you can’t snort grated chee–” Virgil was saying, when someone tapped him on the shoulder. He nearly jumped out of his skin, turning around to face whoever had poked him.

Peter waved at him, an awkward smile on his face. “Hey, Vir–”

“If you startle me like that again I will stab you with a fork.” Virgil said. He smiled. “Hey Pete. What’s up?”

“Is everyone going to ignore that threat…?” Logan asked, from one end of the table. Patton just nodded, trying to finish his peas as fast as possible.

Peter gave a nervous laugh. “Yeah, so, I’m leaving with Aunt May for the day, can you feed Loki? I promised her I would feed her, but I won’t be able to…”

“You made a promise to a cat.” Virgil said, not even bothering to intone it as a question. “Why am I not surprised?”

Peter rolled his eyes. “Just feed her. Please?” He passed Virgil a can of tuna. “She already likes you.”

“Fine.” Virgil said. “See ya later”

“See ya.” Peter said, waving and leaving.

“So…” Virgil said, turning back and leaving the can of tuna on his bag. “Remus, stop snorting grated cheese.”

Seventh of November, 2019, 14:03pm, cafeteria.

Remus will not stop trying to snort grated cheese. Virgil has given up on stopping him. Roman is recording. Logan looks as if he’s seconds away to just leaving us here and going to fetch his other more normal friends. Patton is trying to ignore Remus and keep eating.

So yeah. A normal day in my life.

Where the fuck did Remus get grated cheese?

Anyways, we were at the park and had some fun. There was this mace thingie, and Remus wanted to play hide and seek in it, so maybe we’ll do that later. Or maybe they’ll drag me to the shopping mall. Or maybe ice cream.

No one seems to agree on what to do first, but I’m betting on the mall.

Also Virgil’s friend named a cat Loki? We stan.

I’m going to ignore the urge of rambling about how Marvel fucked up the depiction of Norse mythology. I’ve internally ranted about it enough.

So I guess we’ll be feeding a cat today. I like cats. They’re cute little bastards.

Virgil said he’s gonna go now and meet us outside.

You fool.

We are going.

You thought Patton would miss an opportunity to meet a cat?

–Janus D. C.–

[There’s a doodle of a boy with cat ears. It’s labeled Cat-tton]

“So… when did you met Loki?” Patton asked.

“That’s a question I never thought I’d hear.” Janus commented.

“Hush. I’m still not calling the cat Loki.” Virgil said. “And I met her when I was searching for you dumbass.”

“Oh.” Janus said. “Ok.”

It seemed to be a pattern for Janus. Get scared, run away, come back, refuse to speak about it. It had been before Camp Green Shit and it was now.

Maybe at another moment, he’d laughed at it.

“Hey, dude, it’s ok.” Virgil said. “Although I still have no idea where you were, as long as it isn’t some haunted room or something.”

Janus let our a short laugh. “Nah, just the bedrooms.”

“We checked your dorm, you weren’t there.” Patton said.

“The old ones, dummies.” Janus said. “Didn’t think of searching there, did you?”

“…we did not.” Patton admitted. He fidgeted with his jacket’s ends and looked away. “I’m sorry we made you run away.”

“It’s ok.” Janus said, almost reaching out to pat him. “Did you tell Logan?”

“No, he was out with friends.” Patton said.

“And you’re just gonna what? Leave him in the dark?” Janus asked. He frowned. “I don’t think that’s fair.”

“We’ll…” Virgil started, before sighting. “We’ll tell him on Monday. We want to enjoy a weekend of just our usual shit, not paranormal shit.”

“We still don’t know if it’s paranormal, or if it’s just… magic?” Patton said, his confident tone dimming out until it was just a weak suggestion.

“Whatever it is, it’s only in this building.” Virgil said, shrugging. “We can relax while being outside, and explain this shitshow on Monday.”

“It’s on this building as far as we know.” Janus said. “For all we care, it might as well be the whole town that’s haunted.”

“It’s just our luck, isn’t it?” Virgil asked. “Haunted Camp, haunted town? Yay…”

“Camp wasn’t haunted.” Patton pointed out. “But yes, we’re incredibly unlucky.”

Janus laughed. “So what now?” He asked, looking at Virgil. “Where’s the cat you refuse to name?”

“Loki is a stupid name for a cat.” Virgil grumbled, before pointing with his head to an area of the playground. “She’s over there.”

Patton squeaked in excited, bouncing on his feet.

Virgil snickered, and knelt in the ground to pull out the tuna can out of his backpack.

As soon as he opened the can, the three of them heard an audible meow coming from above them.

Loki, the cat, was small and black with white paws. Patton stopped bouncing and stared at the cat, not wanting to scare it away.

She approached Virgil slowly.

Virgil offered her tuna. “Hi. Please don’t bite my fingers off.”

Loki sniffed it and bit Virgil’s fingers. Virgil bit his lip, to keep from screaming at the cat.

Janus snorted. “Can we feed her too?”

“Sure” Virgil said, offering them the can. “Go ahead. She’ll bite you though.”

Janus just laughed again, grabbing a bit of tuna and passing the can to Patton. He knelt next to Virgil and offered the tuna to Loki, who eyed him warily.

She sniffed him, deemed him worthy, and ate the tuna.

“She’s not so b–” Janus started saying, and then Loki bit him too. “Ouch. Treason.”

Patton laughed, kneeling next to them and approaching the cat the same way.

“Aren’t you the cutest?” He asked, as Loki sniffed him. “You’re beautiful and grace and so cute.”

Loki purred, eating the tuna.

“You’re good, aren’t you?” Patton asked, as he fed her the entire can of tuna. “You’re not gonna bite me, cause you’re a good and beautiful cat.”

Virgil and Janus stared as Patton kept showering the cat in affection. And Loki didn’t bother bitting Patton.

In fact, she started purring, and allowed herself to be scooped up on Patton’s arms.

“Isn’t she cute?” Patton asked.

Virgil gaped at him, blinking for a few seconds. “O…key… how??? How are you so good with cats??”

Patton shrugged. “They’re cute.”

“Aren’t you allergic to cats?” Janus asked.

“So?” Patton asked. “The suffering is worth it.”

“Patton, what the absolute fuck.” Virgil asked.

“Suffering is worth it.” Patton deadpanned.

“You are a lost cause.” Janus said. He grabbed his backpack from the ground and starting turning away. “Come on, the others will be waiting.”

“But I just met Loki! Do I have to say goodbye now?” Patton complained, holding the cat closer to his chest.

“You’ll see her later, I’ll bring you along.” Virgil assured.

Patton pouted and refused to let go of the cat.

Virgil sighted and waited for Patton to let go of the cat. He didn’t.

“Oh, look it’s Virgin and his new friends.” A voice Janus didn’t recognize said, right on his left side. He resisted the urge of jumping at the unexpected sound. He turned to face a guy with his arm on a cast. The kid grimaced at his face. “Ew, who burnt your face?”

Janus rolled his eyes. “Rude. And unoriginal.” He said.

“Fuck off, Iker.” Virgil said, grabbing Janus’s arm and starting to walk away. “Come on, Patton, let’s go.”

“But Loki…” Patton said, pouting.

The kid, Iker, laughed. “You named a cat Loki? Jeez, you must be more lame than I thought you were!”

“ _Bitch_ , Loki is a cat and she’s ten times better than you little piece of human scum will ever be.” Virgil said. “And Loki is the perfect name for a cat, uncultured swine.”

Patton left Loki on the ground. “Bye Lokitty.” He said, watching her run away.

“Let’s go” Virgil said, pulling both his friends along.

Janus decided that Iker was a dickhead.

7 of November,

Ok, os I’ve been thinking a bit about the valleys, and about the mines on them. So, maybe, the mines don’t have monsters, but instead, the mines are the monsters.

Cool concept? No? Shut up, it is a cool concept, I say so.

So, the mines are kind of like symbiotic creatures. They feed on the animals that take refuge on them, draining energy out of scaring them to death and then decomposing them. The only reason humans (and similar intelligent creatures) are allowed in to mine are because the mines allow it. Because there’s always a small chance one of the miners will separate from the group, and start feeding the mine.

So yeah. Psychological horror kind of thing.

_It makes me claustrophobic, really, the thought of it. To be trapped in between walls, wriggling your way, feeling every scratch of rock against clothing that barely protects you, trying not to stop, because you know that if you stop you won’t be able of moving again. To feel the water running down the walls, as the mines slowly flood. To not be able of barely see, and what you see is all the same wet disfigured rock._

So yeah, spooky times.

I realize now I use ‘so’ a lot. Is that bad? Who cares, this is my diary.

Gotta go, the others have finally arrived. Virgil looks pissed.

~Princey

“What about this one?” Remus asked, showing Eden a sweater. “I think it’s neat”

“I told you.” Eden said, without even looking. “No boob windows.”

“But boob windows!” Remus said. He grumbled to himself. “Is there a green version of this? I want this…”

Eden scoffed as Remus left, searching for more clothes. Roman and Patton approached him, Patton carrying several shirts and Roman critiquing all of them.

“Hey, Dee. Do you like these?” Patton asked, showing them to Eden.

“You could’ve just dragged me to where they were, instead of carrying them here.” He said, eyeing the t-shirts. He pointed at one with a bee pattern in it. “I’m keeping that one.”

“Finally. After half an hour he choses one article of clothing!” Roman exclaimed. “I found five things I wouldn’t mind wearing, and three of them are dresses. They’re pretty cheap.”

“Get them then.” Eden said. “I prefer to take my time.”

“Can’t.” Roman complained. “The sizes are too small.”

“Well that's rough buddy.” Eden said, not knowing exactly what else to say. “Come on, I need some pants to go with this shirt.

Roman’s face lit up as he practically dragged Eden to that section, leaving Patton alone to relocate the T-shirts they had grabbed.

As Roman rambled about the injustice of fake pockets, Eden tried to find something that didn’t scream ‘boring’ at him, while also not being something too neon for his like. A middle point. Something yellow. Yellow is a nice colour.

“Jan?” Someone called, and Eden turned to face someone.

Roman turned as well, recognizing when someone had stopped listening to him.

“Who?” He asked, looking at the boy in front of them.

The boy with sunglasses stuttered, looking at Eden and then at Roman. “Nothing, sorry, mistook you for someone.” He fidgeted with the ends of his leather jacket. “I’ll be, eh, going now. Bye. Sorry again.”

Roman watched him leave. “That was weird.” He said. “Anyways, I think a warm brown would go great with that. But not too warm, we want brown not orange.”

Eden snapped back to look at him, muttering a yeah as he kept looking through pants.

Roman soon continued his rant about fake pockets.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked it, leave a comment if you did!  
> Pat Loki, but at your own risk. She will bite you.


	14. The Poppies book.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 7, November, 2019  
> Dear Emile,
> 
> 2019, November 8,  
> Roman has stabbed Eden with a spoon.
> 
> Erik doesn't like the poppies book.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me before writing this chapter: ok, go subtle with the self indulgence. Only hinting towards Erik and Logan, a bit of teasing, no more.  
> Me now: Fuck it. Erik is simping for Logan and everyone but those two know.
> 
> This made more sense in my head.
> 
> Enjoy!

7, November, 2019

Dear Emile,

You know, the weirdest thing just happened to me today. I was in the mall, looking for a gift for my cousin’s birthday–you know Andy, right? He’s starting his emo phase and I’m willing to encourage it.

Anyways, I was in the mall, looking for clothes. And because I’m a cheep whore, I went to the second hand store. Besides, I think the money there goes to charity, so it can’t be that bad.

And as I was looking for something dark enough for Andy’s new emo-ness, I almost thought I saw Janus.

Yes, Janus.

He was dressed in the weird uniform for those fancy troubled kids that go to the old school. I told you about that place, didn’t I? It’s so fucking creepy, I swear there’s rumours of kids disappearing there or something.

And I thought it was him. I mean, he looked like him, more or less. But then he turned to me, and I’m pretty sure I was mistaken.

Last time we saw each other, before I moved, he didn’t have half his face burned. Which, ok, is an insensitive way of putting it, but kinda shocked me.

And the kid–whoever he was, cause I don’t think he was Janus– didn’t seem to know who I was, so I’m about 89’5 per cent sure that wasn’t Janus.

Wonder how he is. Do you still talk to him? He never responded to my letters.

Anyways, how’s everything around there? Pet your dog for me. And give her treats, she deserves them.

I have a ton of homework, and a biology project, but here you see me procrastinating. I’m never going to learn, am I?

Write back soon.

Loves you,

Remy A. Sleep.

PS: stop ignoring my video calls. I rickrolled you three days ago, are you still mad about it?

“Where did Logan go?” Eden asked, as he sat down in the cafeteria. “I arrive late once and he’s missing?”

Virgil looked up from where he was writing on his journal. “He’s with his other friends. Something about showing him around.” There was a hint of bitterness on his voice.

Remus raised an eyebrow and threw him a piece of bread. “Ya jealous?” He asked. “Ya jealous bitch?”

“Please speak normally.” Roman asked. He shoved another spoon of scrambled eggs into his mouth before continuing. “But really, Emo King, jealous? Of whom? A bunch of twelve years old?”

“Shut up, you eat scrambled eggs with a spoon.” Virgil said, pointing at him with his pen.

Eden sighted, sitting down and starting to eat.

“What’s wrong with eating scrambled eggs with a spoon? It’s a perfectly valid option” Roman said.

“Sorry, Roman, but it’s not.” Patton said. “Anyways, where are we going today?”

Virgil shrugged. “I dunno, ask Logan.”

“Wow, the jealous does not look good on you Virge.” Remus said. He threw more bread at him. “Chill out, the nerd is allowed to have more friends than us.”

“Yes, I know, but–” Virgil said, before gesturing vaguely and giving up. “Forget it, it’s dumb.”

“Nothing’s dumb.” Remus said. “Except Roman’s ideas”

“Hey! My ideas at least don’t involve buttholes everywhere!” Roman said, pushing Remus. Remus pushed him back.

“Kiddos, both you’re ideas are great, stop fighting.” Patton said, managing to end the cycle of pushes before it got worse.

“You’re mad cause you had plans already made in your head and Logan not being here screwed them over?” Eden asked. Virgil nodded. Eden scoffed. “Yeah, it tends to happen with chaotic groups such ours.”

“Logan is not exactly the most chaotic one.” Virgil said. “If anyone here it’s chaotic, that’s you and the Twins.”

“We’ll take that as a compliment.” Said both Twins at the same time. Then they threw bread crumbs at each other.

“Anyways, I’m sure we can find something to do in the mean time.” Eden said. “It’s a big town. Surely there’s, I dunno, a place to get ice cream or something.”

“Ice cream? In November?” Virgil asked. “Really?”

“I mean… we’ve done worse things.” Patton said. “I don’t see why not.”

“Worse things, like eating scrambled eggs with a spoon.” Eden said.

“I will stab you with my spoon, you sly snake.” Roman said.

Eden smirked. “Try me, bitch.”

2019, November 8,

Logan has decided to throw the internal machinations of my brain out the window and destroy my plans by going with his other friends. My plans. Defenestrated. Yeeted out of the window. Or is it yoten?

Anyways, I can’t technically blame him, since I didn’t tell him of my plans, but it’s not as if he gave me a chance. He just came to us and told me he’d be spending the morning with his boyfriend and company.

Why am I so jealous of twelve year old kids.

Ok, now the others are asking me why I’m jealous, and expressing things via talking is harder than writing about them. So fuck me, I guess.

I have a Disney song stuck in my head. I heard Roman and Remus singing it earlier and now it’s on loop on my head.

Great. I will kill this two someday if they keep singing Disney.

Disney isn’t even that great.

Anyways, the new plan is to get ice cream, and get brain freeze or hypothermia. Great plan.

This is why we don’t let Eden make plans. He just says the first thing on his mind and we just pray it goes smoothly.

And, cause we’re petty bitches, we’re gonna start the game night–morning?– without Logan. Only to determine the relationships between characters, no plot stuff, since no one has any idea of what the plot is actually going to be about.

Roman stabbed Eden with a spoon. Eden’s playing dead and now Remus is dueling Roman.

Why am I friends with this people?

At least Patton isn’t fighting anyone.

Never mind, he’s acting as a fencing referee, or however it’s called. I hate the fact that he knows how to do this. Fucking posh kids with their expensive hobbies.

I’ll stop writing in you before this develops into a food fight.

-Emo.

Eighth of November, 2019, 8:04am, cafeteria.

So. Roman stabbed me. Remus and him started fighting. Patton is making sure everyone follows the fencing regulations, although Remus is probably not doing that. And Virgil is pretending he doesn’t know us. Which is, to be honest, a fair treatment.

Logan is out for the morning with his friends, Erik and the others, so we’re gonna go for ice cream and wonder aimlessly around town. Maybe we find out it’s haunted as well.

Haha, I’m so funny, with my shitty humour as a even shittier coping mechanism.

Ok, I’ll stop trying to be sarcastic, I sound like Virgil. Eesh.

I love Virgil, but his levels of drama rival Roman’s.

Anyways, I got new clothes. Which is great. I got a few shirts, two pair of pants and a yellow hoodie big enough to fit two people in it. I like big hoodies

We’ll be leaving for ice cream after Virgil and Patton feed Loki. In the mean time, Roman and Remus are taking over my part of the swamps and lakes because I’m too lazy to do it and doing it themselves. So I have a few more minutes before they start fighting over which monster they should add.

If they say sirens when they mean mermaids I’m going to flip the table.

Well, not the table, it’s somehow stuck to the floor. But I’ll throw them my left over eggs. I don’t like eggs that much anyways. And cold eggs are even worse.

Anyways, apparently there’s wifi in the school? Which is good, since I want to search that one YouTube series and watch it, probably since the beginning again, cause I can’t remember much. The thing is that I wasted all the battery of my phone playing Alto, and now I need to find a way to charge it, before trying to decipher the school’s wifi password.

Remus and Roman are about to start a food fight. I should stop them.

While I decide whether to stop them or not, I’ll keep you somewhere safe from the food.

–Janus D.C.–

[There are a lot of poppies surrounding the name, almost making it illegible.]

“So we go first to the park, to the labyrinth and play there. You’re gonna love our game. It doesn’t have a name, cause we made it up, but it’s–” Erik rambled, swinging his legs as he waited for Logan to pack his backpack. He eyed a strange looking book. “What’s that?” He asked, leaning to look at it better.

Logan looked up from his backpack. “Oh. It’s a book. I found it.” Logan said. “It’s in latin, but it has pretty pictures.”

“Can I see them?” Erik asked, moving to grab it but stopping before actually touching the book.

“Sure.” Logan said. He crossed the space towards Erik and handed him the book.

Erik shivered for a second as his hands brushed, and quickly focused all his attention on the book. It was indeed pretty, as the pages were filled with illustrations of flowers and what Erik assumed to be explanations of them in some language. Latin, maybe? It was not French for sure, and Latin was the language used for old science stuff, so it was the safest bet.

He passed through the pages slowly, taking in all the details. Whoever the artist had been, they had done an amazing job.

“Entrancing, right?” Logan asked, right beside him. Erik jumped, looking at him. He hadn’t realize he was so close.

“Yeah. Where did you find it?” He asked, handing it back. He tried to ignore how his face was probably blushing.

“I… can’t recall. It just appeared.” Logan said. He flickered through the pages. “You know, I started linking people I know to flowers in here, let me search for yours.” He kept flipping pages. “It was yellow, almost golden, like your eyes. It must be here somewhe–”

Erik watched as Logan stopped out of nowhere. He waited for him to go on. Nothing. He just stared at the book.

He frowned, looking at the page Logan had stopped. It was empty. No flowers, no writing. Just. Empty.

“Logan, what’s wrong?” He asked, as the other didn’t respond. He was ignored. “Logan?”

Logan kept ignoring him, standing up from the bed. He exited the dorm. Erik hesitated for a second before following him.

“Wait, Logan! You’re not wearing shoes!” He said, grabbing Logan’s shoes and following him.

Logan kept ignoring him, as if he didn’t even hear him at all.

Erik followed him, until they crossed Nadir and Antoinette.

“You finished already?” Antoinette asked, not looking up from her phone as she texted her sister. Logan bumped into her as he passed through the corridor. “Hey!” She complained, looking at him. “Wait, Logan, where the fuck are you going?”

Nadir shot Erik a questioning gaze, to which Erik just shrugged.

“Logan?” He tried, following. “Where are you going?”

Nadir was ignored as well.

“Ok, the fuck is going on?” He said, turning to Antoinette and Erik.

“I dunno, he just showed me this book with flowers and then this happened!” Erik said.

“Is he even hearing us?” Antoinette asked. “He doesn’t seem very… responsive.”

“He’s not even looking at where he’s going” Nadir said. “Is there anything written on the page? A map or something?”

Erik shook his head. “It was empty. Completely blank.”

“Guys, we’re heading over to Miss Hudson’s office.” Antoinette pointed out.

“Surely he won’t be intending to go inside, right?” Erik said. Something told him he was wrong.

Logan stopped in front of the office’s door. He balanced the open book on one hand as he reached to the handle.

“Ok, fuck it, that’s it.” Nadir said, approaching Logan and shoving him away from the door. “Snap out of it! You’re scaring us, Logan.”

The book fell from his hands, closing with a thud. Erik almost pity for the covers of the books. The poppies would be covered with dirt.

Logan blinked for a few seconds, looking around. “What–” He muttered. “What’s happening? Where are we?”

“You don’t remember?” Antoinette asked. “Nothing at all?”

“No, I was– We were–” Logan stuttered, trying to find his ability to speak English again. “We wa–were in the dorm, and then the book, and then… here?”

“You said something about showing me a flower.” Erik said. “Then went quiet and just… Walked here. Out of nowhere.” He handed him his shoes. “Here, you forgot this.”

Logan took them, struggling to put them on. “Ok, but, where are we?”

“In front of Miss Hudson’s office.” Nadir said. “Where I would rather not be. Come on, let’s go.”

He grabbed Logan’s arm once he finished putting on his shoes and started pulling him towards his dorm.

“Wait.” Logan said, turning to look for the book. “The poppies book, it fell–”

“Logan.” Nadir said, not letting him go. “We’re not taking the cursed book with us. We’re not that stupid.”

“Are we not?” Asked Antoinette.

“But the poppies–” Logan insisted.

“Just cause it has pretty flowers, it doesn’t make it any less haunted.” Nadir said. “I’m sure you’ll find another book with pretty flowers in it.”

“There’s a library in town.” Erik said. “We might go check it out, if you like.”

Logan seemed to hesitate for another second, before giving in. “Fine. Let’s go, it’s cold here.”

“Grab a coat next time, dumbass” Antoinette said.

Logan rolled his eyes and continued walking.

No one said a thing.

Erik only turned a second to look back, and barely caught a glimpse of the corridor.

He didn’t see the book there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed, leave a comment if you want to make me happy!


	15. Emile rickrols Remy back

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sunday evening ruined by resident bully and asshole posh kid.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... content warning for violence against kids/teens and animals, fire, non graphic panic attack and... teachers being unfair assholes.  
> Enjoy?

Dear Remy,

I guess this is my fault for not telling you about it. I guess part of me preferred to think you’ve already heard about it on the news, or that your parents had told you about it.

Janus left. I don’t know what happened exactly, but there was an accident. A fire. Apparently he was sent to the hospital and then to this place, didn’t catch the name. A camp of some sorts? I don’t know.

He’s not here, and I don’t think he has his phone on him. I called him a week after he left, but there was no reply.

Maybe he lost his phone.

I don’t know.

Anyways, send Andy my happy birthday wishes, and stop procrastinating on your project. You’re gonna end up hating yourself at three am while trying to finish it on time. So please don’t end up like this, your sleep schedule is already a mess enough.

Over here I’m fine, I guess. Nothing much is happening.

I feel like an extra in someone else’s story.

Also, Duna ate a shit in the park today, so no. I’m not giving her a treat. She doesn’t deserve it.

Garbage gremlins don’t deserve treats.

I did pet her for you.

Don’t mess with the rich kids with uniform. Don’t be a dumbass.

Loves you dearly,

E. Picani.

PS: fine. I’ll stop.

PSS: I found this great YouTuber, wanna check it out? This is my [favourite video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ) so far.

November 8, 2019

I need to talk to the others.

English, stop failing me, I can’t stop talking in English in the middle of nowhere.

I heard Erik and Antoinette arguing in French, and Nadir mutters curses in some other language. I think they’re curses. They sound like curses.

Ok, that’s not what I wanted to talk about. Focus, goddamnit.

So yeah, the pretty book. Haunted? Cursed? Magic???

It was weird.

Surely there must be a rational explanation for this. A rational explanation to why I couldn’t hear anyone, or notice anyone around me, nor anything.

Ok, this might be harder than first expected.

So we left the book behind. I wish we hadn’t. I really liked it.

Is that something weird to say after being controlled by the book?

Well, I don’t know if I was controlled. Maybe it was something else?

Is just, I remember stopping to read the same page from before. The one that had the words. It’s definitively not latin, nor English. And definitively not Portuguese.

It doesn’t even look like a romanic language. It sure has the same alphabet, but it was… different.

Like… distorted. That’s the word I was looking for.

English, you need to stop failing me.

I need to talk to the others.

-Nerd

“Hey, Louis!” Iker shouted from the other side of the cafeteria.

Louis ignored him, eating and scrolling through his phone at the same time. He cursed the day that the teachers had taken his iPods from him. Now he had to stand people like Iker out of everyone.

Iker sat next to him, awfully close. Did this guy have no sense of personal space?

“Louis. Louis. Louiuiui.” Iker said, taking his phone from him.

Louis frowned, annoyed. “What do you want from me?” He snatched his phone back.

“You hate the scaly dude right?” Iker asked. “The snake face.”

“Crowell. Yes, I do not like him.” Louis said. “He’s rude, aggressive, and earned me another detention.”

“Sure, whatever the freak’s name is.” Iker said, ignoring the rest of what Louis had said. “The thing is, you hate the snake, I hate the emo.”

“Is this going somewhere or are you just wasting my time?” Louis wondered.

“I’m going somewhere.” Iker said. “If I told you I had an idea to fuck with both of them, would you help?”

“It depends.” Louis said, putting down his fork. “Is it going to end with us in detention? Again?”

“Not if we pull this right.” Iker said. “Besides, I can do the messy part. You know I’ve always been a fan of arson.”

“You’re going to be the death of me.” Louis muttered. He sighted. “What do I have to do?”

He didn’t like how Iker grinned.

Eighth of November, 2019, 14:26pm, cafeteria (again).

Ok, so, ice cream was nice and all, but now no one’s eating lunch. Because we ate too much ice cream.

In my defense, ice cream sandwiches are the best and they were cheap.

We spent most of the morning on the park, fighting over the swings and deciding what to do this evening.

The plan is to find a library or a bookshop, wherever. As long as they let us sit down, so we can start with the weird game Patton made. I think Logan has to finish writing down the map details, but honestly, if I were Logan I’d given up on trying to note everything down.

So we’re gonna go do that, after a few things.

First, Virgil wants to feed Loki again, because his friend Peter apparently spends all weekend with his aunt and uncle. Then Logan wants to talk to us about something?

Maybe he found out the school’s cursed, who knows?

We seriously have a miscommunication thing going on. What a mess.

And then the posh kid, I think I mentioned him before. Esther’s brother. (Her name was _not_ Samantha). Anyways, he said he wanted to talk to me about something school related. And since he said of meeting were Loki usually hangs out, I’ve decided to kill three birds with a rock. Was that how the idiom went? Maybe. I dunno.

Back to the point, I’m going with Virgil to feed Loki and talk to the guy, while Logan starts explaining what’s wrong. If the school is cursed in a different way than what it was before, I’m going to kick a wall or something. That would hurt the school, right?

No, it’d probably only hurt me.

Well, I never said I was the brightest, so…

But I’m smart enough to know not to go to meet this weird rich kid who seems to hate me alone. So I’m bringing Logan and Virgil. They might look small, but so did Roman, and his punching hurts. Trust me, I know. First hand experience and all.

I think Logan’s boyfriend is tagging along too. I find it cute. I mean, it’s so obvious that Erik is falling hard for Logan.

Poor kid. Logan’s oblivious to love.

While we do that, I think the others are gonna go search for a place for the game night. Only it’s not during nighttime now. We really need to find it a better name.

Welp, the others have finished trying to eat something healthy. I’ll write later.

This game is going to be the end of Logan.

–Janus D. C.–

[There’s a doodle of four kids and a kitten. One of them is labelled ‘me’, another ‘emo boy’ and the other two are ‘oblivious gays’. The cat is labelled ‘Lokitty’]

“You gotta tell them” Erik said, interrupting the silence.

Logan rolled his eyes and looked away. “I will do so, if you stop pressuring me.”

Eden interchanged a look with Virgil, who just shrugged.

“What did the posh kid want?” Virgil asked, derailing the conversation somewhere else.

“I dunno, he probably wants to either ask for homework or I dunno, fight me?” Eden said, shrugging. “He seems to hate me for some reason.”

“You snapped at his sister.” Virgil pointed out.

“She was being a bitch.” Eden said. “She had it coming.”

“Esther is always a bitch.” Erik said. “I got into a fight with her once.”

Logan looked at Erik surprised. “You did? Why?”

“She was being a bitch.” Erik said.

Eden couldn’t help but laugh. Even Virgil snickered.

They arrived to the corner of the playground, and there was Louis. Logan realized this was the perfect place for someone to smoke, as it was narrow, dark and far away from teachers. And Louis had realized that too, as he relied against a wall with a cigarette.

But what’s worse is that Louis wasn’t alone.

“Oh great.” Virgil muttered, looking at the guy with his arm in a cast. “Did you know Iker would be here?”

“No.” Eden said, bitterness dripping into his voice.

“Why am I surprised? This is the kind of shit he’d pull before.” Virgil said. “Let’s feed Loki and get this over with.”

Louis seemed to notice them arriving, pushing himself away from the wall. He exhaled a bit of smoke from the cigarette towards them, and Eden had to fight the urge of coughing.

“You didn’t say he’d be here.” Eden said, looking to Iker.

Logan noticed Iker was holding something that kept moving. He squinted his eyes, but between the shadows and the cigarette smoke, it was hard to tell.

“You didn’t say you’d bring them” Louis said, looking at the others.

Logan didn’t like how he stared at Erik. He frowned, taking Erik’s hand.

Virgil looked around for Loki. “You’ve scared away the cat. Great.” He turned to look at Louis. “At least tell me you didn’t want to talk to us to ask for homework, or some bullshit like that.”

“Honestly, I’m just here cause Iker knew only the snake would be dumb enough to accept to meet up.” Louis said, completely calm. He took another drag from the cigarette. “And I just want to see what happens.”

“Don’t call him that.” Erik said, squishing Logan’s hand. “He has a name, asshole.”

Louis smiled patronizingly. “Sure, whatever you say” he said, with the sweetest voice. He rolled his eyes and blew some smoke their way. “Freak.”

Logan grit his teeth. “Fuck off.” He said.

Iker laughed, and Logan felt the urge of hitting someone in the face. If only he was taller. Or older. Or stronger.

“If all you want to do is annoy us, we’ll be going.” Eden said, ready to turn away and leave.

“I have the stray” Iker said. Logan noticed Loki trying to jump to the ground and scratching Iker’s cast. “It’s quite an annoying cat.”

“YEah, no shit!” Virgil said, trying to approach him. He glared at Louis as he stood on his way, but didn’t try fighting him. “You don’t just grab stray cats, you imbecilic idiot! Let her go.”

“Sure.” Iker said, shrugging. He crouched, leaving Loki inches from touching the ground as she trashed and tried to bit him.

And then he pulled out a lighter and Logan let go of Erik’s hand.

He wasn’t fast enough to stop him.

Iker set Loki’s tail on fire and laughed.

Virgil was the next one to react. As Logan hurried towards the cat, taking off his jacket to put out the small fire, he punched Iker straight in the face.

“What the fuck dude?!” Iker screeched, dropping his lighter.

Virgil didn’t reply, lunging at him as Eden shouted at him to stop.

Logan wasn’t sure what happened next. He concentrated on Loki, on wrapping her in his jacket and putting out her tail.

And when he turned to face the others, everything seemed to freeze.

Virgil and Iker were on the ground, and Logan couldn’t tell if they were still fighting or not.

Eden had stepped on the lighter, and it had shattered, spilling gasoline around his feet. He was trying to stop Erik from making things even worse, holding him back before he joined the fight as well.

Then Louis threw his cigarette towards Eden, and things got even worse.

His shoe caught fire first, and then it quickly expanded to his pants.

Eden stopped for a second, going deadly white. He stopped breathing, stepping back until he hit the wall, as if getting away would stop the fire, beforeLogan ran to him, leaving the cat and the jacket behind.

The fire was easy to put out. It had hardly started and Logan just smothered it out with his own hands, ignoring the pain. He could hear everyone arguing in the background, and was barely aware of Iker getting up and running away.

Virgil pushed Logan away. He knew Virgil didn’t want to hurt him, but as he felt to the ground beside him he couldn’t help but feel a pang of betrayal.

Pang of betrayal that faded when he saw Virgil talking to Eden, trying to get him to breathe.

“Jeez, over reaction much?” Louis said, taking out another cigarette, ready to light it again.

Logan turned, fully ready to punch him.

Erik got there first.

But then Iker came back with a teacher.

Same day, but worse,

Cigarettes don’t cause fires. They don’t. I searched about it.

Cigarettes burn high enough to light gasoline, yes. But that’s only when they are first lighted. A half finished cigarette shouldn’t be able of causing a fire, no matter how small it is.

So how in the world did that happen?

It just… It doesn’t make sense.

Now Erik’s got detention, or whatever the hell you get after the third strike thingie they’ve got in this place, and Eden hasn’t said a word.

Of course the asshole would try to frame us as the ones who started it. Of course it would end up with only Erik getting send to detention. Of course that's just our luck, isn't it? The other two just leave, like nothing happened, and we're left to pick up the pieces.

I wish I had a chance of punching that guy.

At least Loki seemed to be ok. She’ll probably never trust us ever again, but her tail wasn’t too badly burned.

Eden’s leg was ok too, I don’t think that even the pant was damaged. My jacket, on the other hand, is ruined.

My hands are fine. No burns, no blood, just… fine.

I don’t know why.

I’m going to check how Eden’s doing.

~~-Nerd~~

Antoinette was asking where Erik is. I told her about the detention.

We’re going to Mrs Hudson office now. If we're quick, we'll get there before she does.

-Nerd

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DO NOT TRY TO PUT FIRE OUT WITH YOUR HANDS  
> The only reason Logan is unhurt is *magic* (the haunted school doing weird haunted shit)  
> Leave a comment if you liked it!


	16. Erik who?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> =)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So. History exam was a bitch. I'll pass, but hell knows that won't get me satisfaced.  
> And as much of a Marvel hyper fixation I've got right now, I'm still gonna keep this goddamn schedule even if it kills me in the process.  
> Enjoy!

“Hey, Emo boy!” Remus shouted, running towards Virgil. “We’ve been searching for you, where the fuck were you?”

Remus heard Roman curse as he and Patton hurried to follow him.

Virgil looked at them tiredly, shrugging. “Shit went down.” He muttered, looking away. His eyes were puffy and either he had been crying, or doing weed. And Remus couldn’t picture Virgil doing weed.

“Virgil? Are you ok?” Patton asked.

Virgil let out a humourless laugh. “No.” He said, still smiling.

Patton pouted, opening his arms and offering a hug. Virgil took it, letting himself fall on Patton.

Roman stood next to him awkwardly, not knowing whether to offer comfort or not.

“What happened?” He asked.

“It’s a long story.” Virgil muttered, hiding his face on Patton’s shoulder.

“We’ve got all the time in the world.” Patton said.

“Where’s Eden?” Remus asked. “And Logan? Didn’t they go with you too?”

“Logan went to find his boyfriend before he got sent to detention.” Virgil said, pulling away from the hug. “Eden is… I don’t know, he said he wanted time alone, so I left him.”

“Wait, detention?” Roman asked. “What did you do?”

Virgil sighted before he started explaining.

“We should get Nadir.” Logan said, looking behind him as they made their way to Ms Hudson’s office.

“We don’t have time, we’ll fill him in later.” Antoinette said, opening the door to the office slightly. She made sure no one was inside before turning to Logan. “It’s empty, we must’ve been too fast.”

Logan shrugged and entered, following Antoinette.

Erik looked at them exasperated. “What the hell are you doing here?” He asked.

Logan shrugged again. “Saving you?”

Antoinette facepalmed. “Look, we’re just here to make sure the headmistress doesn’t kill you or something.”

“You are the most imbecilic peo–” Erik started saying, but stopped.

Logan heard footsteps drawing near. He looked around for a place to hide.

Antoinette pushed him into an utility closet and closed the door behind her.

“Keep quiet.” She whispered.

“You’re kneeing my ribs.” Logan complained. He was hushed. But at least Antoinette moved her leg away.

They stayed there in silence. It was too dark to see anything, except for the small line illuminated by the exterior light.

Logan kneeled, allowing Antoinette to peek over him while he tried to look through the gap.

Ms Hudson had entered the office. Logan could only see her shadow loom over Erik’s figure. She was saying something. But Logan couldn’t hear exactly what she was saying.

Erik stepped back, and Logan tried to angle himself so he could see him again. He caught a glimpse of a soft yellow glow before the screams began.

Antoinette held him back, a hand over Logan’s mouth. He could barely hear Antoinette hushing him over Erik’s terrified screams.

They didn’t last long, and Logan had to fight every urge he had of jumping out and stopping whatever was happening. He was convinced that if it weren’t for Antoinette’s strong hold, he’d already be out there.

He closed his eyes, as tears started falling, and went lax on her arms.

And then they stopped, all that was left was a deafening silence interrupted by the sound of papers being turned down to pieces.

Logan had to make a conscious effort to breathe. Antoinette let him go, and he could hear her drying out her own tears.

They spent a few minutes trying to be quiet, crouched against each other. They ignored the ache of their knees. Eventually they heard Ms Hudson getting up from her chair. Seconds later the door closed.

Logan and Antoinette waited a few more seconds, before moving. They exited the closet, looking around them. No sight of Erik.

“Was… was that window there before?” Antoinette asked in a whisper, pointing at an open window behind the office’s desk.

“I…” Logan said, not knowing for sure. “I think so? We need to leave.”

“Right.” Antoinette said, following Logan out of the room. “Let’s go get Nadir, he’ll… he’ll know what to do. He always does.”

Eighth of November, 2019, 19:02pm, old bedroom chambers.

So… I’m hiding. Again.

I really want company now, but I can’t. I can’t ask for it.

This place is comforting while creepy. I like it. It’s cold, but my new sweater helps.

I don’t really have much to say.

I don’t want to talk about it.

I just want to write, about nothing and everything.

Something tells me everyone’s gonna forget about the game nights.

I feel as if I’ve wasted my time doing stupid things, when I could’ve been catching up with the ton of homework I have.

I should be doing homework right now. I have a project for Wednesday. And another exam on Friday. Teachers really do enjoy setting exams on Fridays, don’t they?

It’s a pity, the twins and Patton really liked the game nights. And hearing them bicker ~~is~~ was fun.

Maybe I should stop hiding here.

I wonder if they’ll ever repair the broken window. It’s a danger for all the dumb children who run around this place.

The dust is starting to irritate me. I’m going to leave. Maybe that’ll help.

–Janus D.C.–

[There’s a doodle of a sweater. Below it says ‘ _welcome to sweater town. Leave sadness behind_ ’]

Nadir Khan didn’t have much friends. He had tried, he really did. But people didn’t like him, nor his strange accent.

So he spent his time in the library, doing homework and doodling. He was never a good artist, but he liked to imagine himself in the future, being successful and happy in life. Sometimes he went overboard, imagining himself famous, or as a superhero. Although he always preferred vigilantes. Being a public figure made him anxious.

And there he was, sitting in one of the multiple tables of the library, catching up with his English homework. He wondered why he’d left it for later. He didn’t usually leave things for the last moment.

Then he was approached by two kids. He recognized them vaguely. The new student and the girl that excelled at French class. He never talked much to them anyways.

“Nadir!” The girl exclaimed, and he was surprised she even knew his name.

“Yes?” He asked, closing his notebook. “What do you want?”

“It’s Erik.” The boy said. What was his name? “He got into trouble, so he got sent into Ms Hudson’s office. We followed him, but–”

Nadir interrupted, frowning. “ _Who’s Erik?_ ”

Roman followed Remus through the hall. He had refused to let him go on his own to search for Eden after hearing about the creepy hallway thingie.

He considered himself lucky, he had gotten out of that situation easily. Maybe he should thank Logan’s boyfriend, and his weird piano playing habits.

Remus was not talkative today. Roman was blaming that rich asshole. He had promised not to hit the guy, to not get in trouble. Maybe he’d content himself with insulting him.

His twin kept walking, and Roman realized where they were headed to. The old bedrooms.

Why would Eden even want to be there at all?

He didn’t voice his doubt, and just followed Remus. If he wanted to talk, he’d talk.

They reached the dorm right as Eden left it, closing the door behind him. He was carrying the old red journal with him. Roman swore that if he kept using it on the cafeteria, it’d stop being red and start being brown.

Remus jogged to him. “DeeDee!” He said. “Are you ok?”

Roman approached as well, always seconds late to his brother’s spontaneous actions.

“I’m fine, Remus.” Eden said, although sounding not convinced. “I’m…” He sighted. “Not fine. But I’ll be.” He gave a forced smile.

Remus hugged him, raising Eden from the ground for a few seconds.

Eden let out an undignified squeak, but allowed it.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Roman offered, as soon as Eden was back on the ground.

“Not really.” Eden said. “I just want company.”

“Alright.” Roman said. He opened his arms as an offer. “Come here, Bannanaconda”

Eden laughed, hugging Roman. Remus pouted when Roman lifted Dee off the ground, because he refused to let his brother be the only one to lift the short boy up.

8 of November,

Remus is ranting about some disgusting idea and I honestly can’t listen to it much. It’s just… too much use of the word juicy to describe cannibalistic tendencies of magic creatures.

I think I’m gonna be scarred for life with that word. I’m adding it to the list of words that shouldn’t exist. Along moist.

Made the mistake of saying that out loud. Now Remus is using moist as well. I hate him so much sometimes.

Patton and Virgil are trying to make sense of their homework, Eden is procrastinating by listening to Remus instead of doing his project, and I’m also procrastinating. But in my defense…

Homework boring.

That’s it. That’s all the defense I’ve got.

I wonder how long will Logan take to come back. By the sounds of what Virgil told us, he’d gone after his boyfriend. Surely the headmistress wouldn’t scold him for too long.

Anyways, I’m craving chocolate. I love chocolate, but it sucks that it makes it harder to sing. I don’t know the science behind the whole thing, I just eat chocolate and sing a lot.

I’m going to ask Patton if he has some. He always does.

Ok, apparently, not this time, he doesn’t. He did have fruit candy, so I guess that’ll do.

The best fruit candy are the red ones and you can’t convince me otherwis

[The writing stops. There’s a sharp line, as if the pen had moved suddenly.]

Logan ran towards the group sitting in the cafeteria, slipped, and fell against Roman, almost knocking him over.

Roman let go of his journal and turned to hold Logan before he face planted on the ground.

“Jeez, kiddo, are you ok?” Patton asked, looking at him worried. “You look hurried.”

Remus stopped talking about cannibalistic octopi and looked at Logan as well.

Logan stabilized himself, adjusting his glasses and painting heavily. “Remember my friends?”

“Yep.” Virgil said, munching on a pen. “What’s up with them? Were they mean?”

“Do I need to throw bricks at someone?” Remus asked, genuinely concerned.

“No, no, just, you remember who they were?” Logan asked, almost franticly.

“Well, duh.” Eden said. “The girl, Antoinette, right? And then the one you got detention with. Nadir, I think.”

Logan seemed to pale.

“And his boyfriend.” Roman said. “The other kid, I talked to him once. What was his name?”

“Erik.” Virgil said. “He helped me with maths, and that gets you my instant admiration and respect.”

Logan let out a shaky laugh. “So you remember him as well?”

Eden blinked, confused. “No? Who are we talking about now? I don’t remember any Erik.”

“Well, that’s strange.” Patton said. “I never met him, but I think you two talked.”

“I didn’t talk to anyone called Erik.” Eden said, smiling awkwardly. “Is this… Is this a joke?”

Logan stared at Eden, then at Roman’s journal on the floor, and then at Eden. Eden’s journal was red, filled with dark stains gained at the cafeteria and with a dented cover.

“It’s the journals.” He said, barely above a whisper.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave a comment. Please? Please.


	17. Socks in bed are just a no

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ninth of November, 2019, 02:52am, bedroom chambers.
> 
> Remus and Eden take a midnight walk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look this is late, but longer than normal.  
> Enjoy!

Ninth of November, 2019, 02:52am, bedroom chambers.

I went back on this thing, and found someone called Erik being mentioned at least three times, four if we count the time I referred to him as Logan’s boyfriend. Were they dating? It seems as if Erik, whoever he might be, had a crush on Logan. Which, ok, it does sound like something we would tease Logan with.

So why can’t I remember him?

The others do, I think. At first I thought it was some joke, but Logan was too frantic and none of the others can forge my writing. I think. I hope.

This can’t be gaslighting, I do remember writing the entries.

The others think their journals are what’s keeping them from forgetting. And Logan’s other friend, Antoinette, saw how Erik disappeared, so apparently she didn’t forget either.

Their other friend, was it Nadir, I think? He forgot. They aren’t friends anymore, although I can’t understand how that works. Does erasing one person out of a friend group make it so the group dissolves? What if it was one of us?

I know none of us are missing. I checked. Double checked the entries.

I should write the other’s name in case I forget them. Not Remus, and the other idiots. Those I have their handwriting here, it’s impossible they’ll be erased.

So, the others. I already mentioned Logan’s other two friends. Antoinette and Nadir. Then there’s Virgil’s friends, Parker and the Phillipe guy. Although I don’t think if he’s a friend, but at least he’s not a jerk? Then there’s Loki. The cat. Although she probably hates us.

And Iker. And Louis. And Esther. I don’t like them, but that doesn’t mean I want them erased.

I think that’s everyone in this school that I actively know.

And well, Remy and Emile. I don’t know if they live here, if they came for the weekend, or if I was just imagining it, but I guess writing it down won’t hurt. Just in case.

Logan thinks it has to do with the journals, but I don’t see how that’d be related. Sure, Remus found them in a creepy place, so what? Books can’t be cursed.

What’s a book gonna do? Open like a mouth and bit you down slowly? Eating you inch by inch with the most minuscule paper knives?

That’s absurd. You’d just throw it away and be done with it. Hell, even burn the damn thing. I may not like fire, but it is a solution to things.

And now I’m thinking bout fire. Great. Just what I need. To trigger myself. I’m just such a fucking idiot, aren’t I?

Just… think of something else. Cats? No, not cats, that won’t help anymore.

I want to punch Iker in the face.

Although Remus will probably be the one to do it, not me. He’s the one to always jump into violence. I like that.

Tonight it’s colder than usual. I can’t sleep. I must be becoming an insomniac as well.

Or maybe I’m just trying not to get nightmares. That would make a great impression, waking up screaming in the middle of the night. Surely Louis, my lovely dorm mate, would love it.

I’m going to go for a walk.

–Janus D.C.–

[There’s a doodle of a white poppy. Just one. No words. Just a sole pale poppy.]

Remus turned and tossed in bed for a few more minutes before turning towards Roman in the bed next to him. He watched his brother drool for a few seconds, listening into the quiet snores from the rest of the kids in the dorm. No one seemed awake.

“Roman?” Remus whispered, poking his brother.

Roman kept sleeping peacefully.

He tried again. “Ro? Rotten Princey?” He poked him a bit harder, but alas, no response.

Good, Remus thought, he won’t wake up when Remus left.

He tossed his blanket to the side, propping himself up with his elbows. He shuddered when his feet touched the cold dirty floor, and tried to take some socks out of the drawer without it quaking too much.

Five minutes of fighting with the socks in the dark, Remus left the dorm.

He took his journal, tucking it under his arm as he light up his phone’s lantern.

Remus walked through the corridors with no rhyme nor reason. He just wondered.

How long til the room appeared? How many people had gone forgotten? Would Eden remember him if he went away?

And as he flickered the light from one spot to another, he got the answer to none of those questions.

Yet he kept walking, ignoring how the cold made him shiver and how every noise made him jump and turn.

After what felt for a few hours, he heard walking behind him.

He turned sharply, illuminating a figure no taller than him.

Eden shielded his eyes from the light. “Remus?” He said, sounding so much louder in the quiet corridor than he usually was. “What are you doing awake at this hours?”

Remus let out a short laugh, lowering the light. “I’m hiding a body, you?” He joked, approaching him. “You’re not exactly the insomniac in this situation…”

Eden shrugged lazily. “Couldn’t sleep. Didn’t want to.”

Remus’s smile faltered. “Do you… wanna talk about it?”

Eden let out a humourless laughter. “No. No thank you.”

“Good, I suck at emotional talks.” Remus said, causing Eden to laugh genuinely. “So… what do you wanna do instead?” 

“Dunno.” Eden said. “Don’t really care either. What do you wanna do?”

 _Get rid of the stupid journal and end this stupid bullshit haunting._ Remus thought.

“I dunno, just walk around?” He lied, trying to force his voice not to get higher and failing.

“Walk around… in the dark… carrying your journal…” Eden said, not really believing Remus. “Also, you’re freezing, here have my jacket you dumbass.” He tossed his oversized jacket at Remus, who caught it midair.

“Now you’re gonna be cold.” Remus complained, while balancing the journal and phone in one hand as he tried to put the jacket on.

“At least I’m wearing long sleeves, you dumdum.” Eden said.

Remus rolled his eyes, sticking his tongue out to Eden.

9, November, 2019

Dear Emile,

Sorry for writing this in the middle of the night, but what the fuck?

Why did I learn about this now??? I moved out almost a year ago! You could’ve told me anytime! Anyone should’ve told me!

I asked my parents, and they just??? Assumed??? I knew????

Why the fuck are adults like this.

I’ll make sure it’s him before talking to him. I don’t wanna be caught in another awkward conversation. Hate those.

Andy’s birthday party kept me a bit busy, so sorry for the late reply. It was more or less fun, except for the part where the adults started arguing about politics.

Give Duna a treat or I will strangle you with love.

Garbage gremlins do deserve treats.

‘stop procrastinating on your project’ too late! I’m just finishing it. I present on Wednesday. Also, it’s only one am. So you can’t scold me. I’m gonna go to sleep earlier than normal.

Also, you’re coming for the long weekend, right? Mom is asking again, because we have to prepare the bedroom and all that boring stuff.

Welp, I’ll go get some slep now.

Love ya,

Remy A. Sleep

PS: How dare you.

“Are you going to tell me why you’re actually out here?” Janus asked, after minutes of walking around in silence.

“Couldn’t sleep.” Remus said, kicking a rock that was in the ground.

“Sure.” Janus said, sighting. If Remus didn’t want to tell him, he wouldn’t make him. “Isn’t it weird no one has told us to go back to our dorms? Where are all the teachers?”

Remus frowned, realizing what Janus said was true. “Hey! That’s true! Where the fuck are they?”

Janus laughed, and shushed Remus. He didn’t want the whole school waking up.

“There could be someone disposing of a body and the teachers would never know…” Remus said, in a quieter voice. “How irresponsible.”

“How irresponsible of us to go out.” Janus said. “We’d be the only witnesses, that’d probably get us killed.”

Remus laughed, loud and exaggerated, and Janus didn’t have the hurt to shush him.

“And then my brother and friends would be stuck with two annoying ghosts.” He said. “We could haunt them until they all die, and then we become a ghost gang.”

“Ghost gang” Janus repeated. “Nice name. I like it. That’s a wonderful idea.”

“I know right?” Remus said, bouncing up and down. “We could haunt a theatre and then we could put on fake performances. But gayer.”

“Always gayer.” Janus agreed, laughing. “We should go to sleep, though.”

“Oh, come on, we’ve just started with out ghost gang idea.” Remus said. “Can’t we stay a bit more?”

“Fine. We can keep talking as we make our way to our dorms.” Janus said, not resisting Remus’s puppy eyes. “But be quiet, we’re going to wake up everyone at this rate.”

“But we won’t have time enough to finish the idea. It just has so much potential!” Remus complained.

“Then write it down.” Janus said, pointing at Remus’s journal. “You’ve got a wonderful old looking journal to do so.”

“I… eh, I don’t really wanna use it anymore.” Remus said, passing the journal from one hand to the other. “I don’t like it.”

“Why not? Does it smell of old book?” Janus asked, starting to walk.

“No. I mean, it does, but it’s not that.” Remus said. “I just… I think it’s the journal’s fault.”

“You’re blaming an inanimate object about Erik disappearing.” Janus said, raising an eyebrow in disbelief. “Right. Makes sense.”

“It just… Look, I don’t like it, I came to get rid of it, ok?” Remus said, getting defensive. “It’s a hunch and my hunches are always right.”

“Like that one time you threw a dead scorpion at Roman?” Janus asked, remembering that one time.

Remus laughed, closed his mouth trying to be quieter and then continued laughing softer. “Exactly.” He said. “Like that one time.”

Roman woke up a few hours before he was supposed to. He groaned, annoyed, and tried to go back to sleep.

He stared at the ceiling for minutes, before he grew tired and turned to grab his journal from his backpack.

He pulled out his phone and lighted the flashlight, starting to write.

He didn’t notice the empty bed beside him.

8 of November, again, but night,

So… school’s haunted. Like, for real.

And the headmistress is into it, apparently.

So yeah, I’m no longer concerned with my exams and homework. Fuck those. I worry about bigger stuff now.

Like how the fuck are we gonna get Logan’s boyfriend back.

And now I can’t sleep. And tomorrow is Monday. And I have philosophy class.

So my life sucks right now.

Welp, at least my friends didn’t get erased…

Ok, that sounds worse than it did in my mind.

Can’t help to wonder, if no one can remember the people that are erased, how many people have actually gone missing? And why can we remember? Because of some dumb journals, right. Doesn’t make much sense to me. You’re just… paper and leather. A bit of fire and you’d be reduced to ashes.

And if we only remember because of the journals, how many people that we can’t remember went missing before we had them?

Ok, I should probably go back to sleep.

Yep, that’s a good idea. Stop thinking.

Brain. Stop. No thoughts, head empty please.

I hate my brain.

~Princey

Remus didn’t notice anything wrong with the path back to his dorm until Eden grabbed his wrist, stopping. He didn’t say a thing, he just stopped and stared ahead.

Remus frowned, confused. “What’s wrong?”

“The room.” Eden said, pointing with his head to a door. “It’s not supposed to be here.”

Remus stared at the door for a few seconds. It was old, like everything in the building, and it didn’t fit quite right with the frame. As if someone had tried changing it, gotten a size a bit too small and was too lazy to rectify the mistake.

“What do you mean it’s not supposed to be there? It’s just a door.” Remus said.

“No, you idiot, it’s that room.” Eden said. “With the voices.”

“Voices? What voices?” Remus asked. When Eden failed to reply he let out a nervous laugh. “I’m not understanding shit.”

Eden let go of his hand, approaching the door. Remus didn’t hesitate in following him.

“Dee, the fuck are you doing?” He said. “I thought we were going back to sleep not into exploring the goddamned haunted school.”

Eden didn’t reply, instead just opening the door, slow enough so it didn’t creak.

And then Remus found himself staring into the same room where he’d once found his journal.

But it was wrong. It was so different, yet something told Remus it was the same room. Yet everything had changed.

The floor was filled with cracks, where you could see the small flickers of green growing through. The walls had no hint of the shelves that had once filled them.

And Remus saw himself reflected on the window at the end of the room.

“That… that wasn’t there before.” Remus said, stepping away from the room.

“It was.” Eden said, still looking ahead. “It appeared last time.”

“Last time?”

“Yes. It was opened though.” Eden said, finally looking away from the room. “Let’s just… leave before it gets weird.”

“Too late, everything is already weird.” Remus said, trying to joke.

Eden let out a short laugh. “True.” He said, smiling. “Let’s go, shall we?”

“Wait.” Remus said. He approached the room carefully, as if ready for something to pull him in.

Nothing. It had to be safe, then, right?

He didn’t wait any longer, tossing his journal across the room. He watched it hit the floor, opening as it landed, crumpling the pages. If it were a normal book, Remus might’ve winced at the treatment it received.

For a second, nothing happened.

Then Remus sighted, and reached out to close the door.

And as his fingers brushed the door handle, a hand shot out of the darkness and grabbed him by the wrist, pulling him towards the room.

Remus screamed, dropping his phone and only source of light.

Eden grabbed him by the other arm, pulling back.

For a moment, it seemed that the Eden’s jacket would come off, and Remus would be pulled into the room.

But the hand let go, and Remus crashed into Eden. The door slammed close, probably waking someone up if Remus’s screeches hadn’t been enough.

Remus grabbed his phone, turning the flashlight back on. He panted heavily, illuminating the corridor again.

He stayed there, on his knees, panting heavily until his heart quieted down. He then stared at Eden, who had sat against the opposite wall, breathing heavily.

“You ok?” He asked, still out of breath.

Eden nodded, getting up. “Yeah, it’s just… scared the fuck out of me” He offered Remus a hand. “You’re ok, right? Didn’t hurt you?”

Remus took it, jumping to his feet. “No, well, my heart is killing me, but nothing else.”

“Good.” Eden said, not letting go of Remus hand. “Let’s go to sleep.”

Roman pushed his journal into his backpack and left the phone charging.

He tossed in bed and tried to sleep.

And then Remus and Eden entered the room and went to sleep.

Roman stared at his twin as he went to sleep with his socks on.

“Remus.” He whispered. “You heathen, take off your socks.”

“No.” Remus said, burying his head under the blankets. “Fuck you.”

“Remus, Roman, shut up and go to sleep.” Eden mumbled.

Roman pouted, but didn’t respond. He’d insult Remus’s lack of manners later.

Really. Socks on bed. What a heathen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed! Leave a comment and make me happy!
> 
> (Fun fact! Janus's and Remus's dynamic is based on me and my zucchini, only a bit gross cause Remus.)


	18. It's honestly a mystery how I managed to title all chapters with cool titles until today, when I just don't have any ideas to what to name this. So... enjoy this nameless chapter? Enjoy.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> May I address this chapter as 'the calm before the storm'?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I missed the last update, but I was busy so sorry. I'll try get an extra chapter sprinkled somewhere whenever I have time. (Soon I'll have time) (Soon)
> 
> Enjoy!

It didn’t take a lot of perception to see Logan hadn’t slept at all, Virgil thought to himself. As Logan approached him in cafeteria, carrying his tray of food with no enthusiasm, he debated on whether to comment on it or not.

Logan sat next to him, and started playing with his food, lost to his thoughts.

Virgil stared at him for a few seconds before reaching out to him. “Hey…” He said, gaining a tired glance from Logan. “You ok?”

 _No, of course he’s not ok, you dumbass._ Virgil thought. _His friend just got fucking erased!_

Logan stared at him for a few seconds with a blank expression before starting to cry.

“Oh, shit” Virgil said, trying to decide whether or not to hug him. “Please don’t cry. I mean, do cry? Fuck, what am I supposed to do–”

Logan cut him off, throwing himself at him. Virgil hesitated for a second before returning the hug, rubbing circles on Logan’s back. “It’s ok, it’s ok, we’ll figure something out, ok?”

It was at that moment Patton arrived. Virgil hadn’t been more relieved to see him in his whole life.

Patton sighted, setting his tray on the table before sitting next to Logan.

“It’s ok Logan.” He said. “Just let it out. Talk if you want.”

“Eu só…” Logan said, and it took Virgil a few seconds to understand that he wasn’t talking on English. “Não sei o que fazer!”

Virgil exchanged a quick look with Patton, to confirm he wasn’t understanding anything either. Was Logan doing this on purpose?

“Antoinette espera que eu faça alguma coisa! Ser esperto!” Logan continued, still hugging Virgil. “Mas não sei o que fazer, o Nadir ainda não quer falar com a gente e eu simplesmente não sei o que fazer!”

He sniffed, pulling away. “Eu só quero voltar, por favor, eu só ... estou cansado. Muito cansado.” He said, drying his tears away. “Sorry, I just…” He mumbled, his pronunciation being a bit off.

“It’s ok.” Patton said. “Sometimes you just need to let it out.”

“Thanks.” Logan mumbled, looking away.

2019/11/9

It’s been a while since I last wrote. I was… busy.

Logan doesn’t like the journals anymore, since he’s convinced they have something to do with the fact that we remember Erik and Eden doesn’t.

It does make sense, but I just… I need to write this down somewhere. Vent, you know?

No one’s talking right now, and it’s actually quite nice, but my mind is just… thinking too much. So I’m going to write this down and forget about it. Spit it out so I don’t have to taste it anymore.

I’m scared. I don’t know where Erik went, and I don’t want to know. Is he dead?

He’s too young to be dead.

But if he’s not, where is he? Why don’t people remember him?

Who else does people don’t remember?

We’ve been using the term ‘erased’ so far. Saying ‘dead’ or ‘gone’ just seems wrong.

The other three are taking their time coming here. They better not get in trouble. Although, considering who Remus and Roman are, that’s gonna be a bit hard.

I think Logan speaks Brazilian whenever he doesn’t want us to know what he’s talking about. It makes sense, and I’d probably do that as well to vent if I knew any other language.

I think Virgil knows French? Maybe? Parts of Canada speak French, so there’s a high chance…

This is a thing I do, change topics and ramble about nothing in particular to avoid expressing how utterly terrified I am.

Utterly. I learnt that word from Logan.

See? I’m doing it again.

I just don’t want to start to imagine what it must be like to get erased. Is it like dead? Is it like drowning? Is it a horrible mix of both where you try to hang on to life only to lose it slowly, bit by bit in a sea of darkness?

Remus would love to write about this idea. Of course, it’s not an idea now, is it?

I wonder if things would’ve been better if we stayed on Camp Green Lake, with all the other weird shit happening. Sure, it was hot and tiring and probably child abuse in some way or another, but we knew what to do and expect. Now we’re just lost, waiting for the next haunted thing to attack us, no matter if it’s a room, the headmistress or these journals.

Roman’s arrived.

I’ll write later.

-Dad

Roman rubbed his eyes, still attempting to wake himself up, as he made his way to the table where the others were. He hadn’t grabbed a tray, he’d just taken a sandwich and a boxed orange juice. He wasn’t hungry anyways.

Logan was playing with his food, cheeks red as if he’d been crying. Virgil was scrolling through his phone. Although it seemed as if he wasn’t actually paying attention at what Tumblr was saying, only passing through the posts without giving them a second glance.

And Patton was scribbling in his journal. He stopped when he saw Roman, closing the book and waving at him.

“Hey guys” He said, sitting in front of them. “Did I miss anything exciting?”

Logan shrugged and didn’t say a word.

“Hi. Where are the others?” Patton asked.

“The others?” Roman said, his brain still not working properly. “Oh, yeah, the others. Apparently sleeping in the same bed isn’t allowed, so they got sent to detention.”

“Jesus fucking christ.” Virgil muttered. “Don’t phrase shit like that, you almost gave me a heart attack.”

“Sorry. Too tired. Brain don’t work.” Roman said.

“That’s grammatically incorrect.” Logan said.

“Brain. Don’t work. Duh.” Roman said, munching his sandwich.

“Why were Remus and Eden sleeping together?” Patton asked.

Roman shrugged. “Don’t know, they just were.” 

“It’s not the first time they’ve done it.” Virgil said. “Although having a rule against it is dumb.”

“All American rules are dumb.” Logan said.

“You’re American too.” Patton pointed out. “Brazil is in America, therefore, American.”

Logan sighted. “Ok, let me reiterate. USA rules are dumb.”

“True.” Roman said. “I once got detention for a week for wearing a skirt in my old school.”

“And then you stole a car.” Virgil said.

“And then we stole a car.” Roman said. “Can you blame us? We were bored and hated that teacher, so…”

“Logical conclusion to that train of thoughts.” Logan said, mockingly.

“I know right?” Roman said, not picking up Logan’s sarcasm.

The bell rang, and Virgil groaned, lying against his chair even gayer. “I hate Mondays.”

“Mood.” Muttered Patton, finishing his breakfast in a hurry. “I’ll see you in recess.” He said, with his mouth full of cookies. “Don’t die of boredom!”

2019, November 9

It has come to my attention that the school is severely under staffed, and there’s less than a third students than there was on my first high school.

So, I think the logical conclusion would be that Erik wasn’t the first person erased.

Jeez, I’m sounding like Logan. Not that there’s anything bad about it, it’s just not my style.

Also, why didn’t I notice this sooner? Right, I’m a dumbass, that’s why.

So, what I’m saying is that basically there’s a high chance that there were more students and adults around, and that they just… left? Were erased? Died?

Not knowing what happens exactly is more scary than knowing. Because my mind is just great, and likes to imagine the worst possible scenario.

Anyways, I’m in the middle of class, but it’s boring and I have worse issues to think about anyways.

Shit I said anyways twice. Logan is gonna kill me.

Wait, Logan doesn’t read this.

That’s weird.

SHIT WE DIDN’T TELL LOGAN ABOUT THE WEIRD ROOM THINGIE.

We were gonna do on Monday, I mean, today, but then Erik happened and now we’re here.

Fuck me, I guess.

Ok, you’re getting anxious and we’re not having that shit in the middle of class. Get yourself together. Make a list. Lists help.

Ok, what the fuck do we have to do:

-Make sure Remus doesn’t get in trouble.

-Tell Logan about the room thingie.

-Actually, let’s all just discuss whatever weird shit has been happening.

-Apologize to Peter about Loki’s tail.

-Give Loki extra food as an apology and hope she doesn’t hate me.

-Do math homework, because I may not care, but the teacher does and he’s scary and yells a lot.

See? It’s not that much of a list.

Imma start with the math homework.

-Emo.

Dear Remy,

Stop writing in the middle of the night and get your goddamned sleep you dumbass.

I thought your parents would tell you! They’re the adults, not me! I’m a dumb kid who watches cartoons, what was I supposed to know???

Adults are like this cause they lack empathy towards an entire generation just for the fact that we’re slightly different. So yeah. Sucks.

At least we still share the hatred over awkward conversations. Which makes our friendship funnier considering that’s how we started. If it hadn’t been for Janus, we would’ve probably avoided each other due to the awkwardness.

Adults arguing about politics, huh? So, like, every dinner at my house?

I swear, they should just get therapy… Or divorced. Or both.

Go ahead and try, I ain’t giving her shit.

She doesn’t deserve shit. She lost another ball at the park. This is the third this month. And we just started the month!

I can’t scold you? _I can’t scold you???_ Bitch, who do you think I am???? I _will_ scold you and you _will_ shut up and take your goddamn scolding you self sacrificing dick.

Yeah, mom will drop me off at the station, and I should be there at the usual hour. No, I will not be bringing Duna. They don’t allow dogs on the train and you know it.

Get some sleep you gorgeous piece of shit.

Loves you dearly,

E. Picani

PS: Daring, duh.

Janus knew this was going to be a dull detention since the moment when he attempted to pull out his journal, only for the teacher to tell him to do homework instead. So now here he was. Hungry as hell, and doing syntaxes.

Remus was also pouting, since he hadn’t been allowed to draw on the margins any more after a teacher yelled at him. He looked at the biology homework like one looks at a boring movie a substitute teacher is playing so kids shut up.

Janus figured he’d just have to wait until the teacher stopped paying attention, or started playing with her phone, or just fell asleep like Logan said it usually happened.

And he was right. After a few exercises and ten minutes of waiting staring at nothing, the teacher fell asleep, pretending to be looking at the computer.

“Hey.” Janus whispered at Remus. “You think she’s asleep?”

Remus looked at the teacher for a second. “Maybe? Let’s check.” Saying that, he took a piece of paper and crumbled it, ready to throw it at her.

“No, you idiot!” Janus said, moving to grab his wrist. “That’ll only wake her up!” He grabbed Remus’s forearm, pulling it down.

Remus let out a yelp, pushing Janus apart.

“What?” Janus asked, confused. “What’s wrong?”

Remus didn’t respond, only rolling up the sleeve of Janus’s jacket that he’d kept since last night. He winced, and hid his arm from Janus.

“So… we might have a problem.” He said.

“Only one?” Janus said, before he could catch himself. “What did you do?”

Remus showed him his arm. “I dunno, you tell me!”

Janus didn’t notice anything weird at first, but then he noticed Remus’s skin was getting more red around his wrist. If Janus stared long enough, he could make the silhouette of a hand grabbing him.

“How the fuck–?” Janus said. “Does it hurt?? Are you ok???”

“It itches, to be honest” Remus said. “It only hurts if I press on it, so maybe it’s a bruise?”

“Doesn’t seem like a bruise to me.” Janus muttered.

“Well, what else would it be?” Remus asked, lowering his sleeve and wincing at the friction. “It’s not the skin that’s irritated, it itches from beneath.”

Janus shrugged, looking at nothing and thinking.

Then it clicked. The room. Last night. Something grabbing Remus. The hand shape.

“Remus, may I ask you something?” He said, looking at him again.

“Aw, are you gonna declare your undying love to me?” Remus asked, sticking his tongue out at him.

“Not now, maybe later.” Janus joked. “Now, seriously, I need to ask something.”

Remus stopped bleping. “Fine. Shoot. Or, well, don’t shot me, that’d hurt. You know what I mean.”

Janus sighted, fighting back a smile. “Last night. With the room, when something pulled you inwards. What grabbed you exactly?”

“I didn’t see much but it felt like a– oh” Remus said, eyes widening in realization. “Makes sense.”

“Nothing here makes sense, but sure.” Janus said. “How long ’til this boredom ends?”

“No idea.” Remus said. “Wanna hear about this stupid idea I had?”

“Sure.” Janus, lying against the table. It’s not as if he had anything better to do.

And Remus’s stories were always fun to listen to.

November 9, 2019

Erik’s desk is missing.

And nobody is noticing.

I keep staring at the classroom, and it’s as if I just noticed. It’s mostly empty.

How many people were here at the beginning?

How many will be left by the end of the month?

I keep trying to ignore thinking about it, I don’t want to ~~break down~~ ~~cry~~ embarrass myself in the middle of French class, but I just can’t stop thinking about it.

Logically, this shouldn’t be happening. The teachers should notice, even if it was just for the accounts saying the number of students that entered here in comparison to how many there are.

And where did his things go?

There’s still traces of him. There’s the dumb drawing he made in my table, and Nadir’s notes have his doodles on the margins, even if he does not remember Erik either.

Antoinette won’t talk to me. She won’t talk to anyone actually. She’s just staring at nowhere from her seat.

Does she blame me for this? It seems as if everything started when we arrived, even if the chances of me being the cause are so slim, infinitesimal actually.

Maybe I can prove to Nadir that Erik was here. I just need to get the students files, and his name should be listed there.

I would have to break into Miss Hudson’s office.

I did that before.

I still don’t understand much. This whole situation seems to be a puzzle where I’m missing the puzzles. First, Remus finds some journals and refuses to tell us where he found them. Then the poppies book. Then Erik, and now only we remember him. It must be connected to the journals, because otherwise what should it be connected to? There’s nothing else.

I need to pay attention, or the teacher is going to scold me.

-Nerd

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed, leave a comment to give me validation!
> 
> (Also, for whoever is also waiting for the 'You call it kidnapping I call it adoption' story, I'm about to have a bunch of chapters ready to post whenever I finish a few scenes)

**Author's Note:**

> This updates every Wednesday, unless I run out of material and forget to write more, which might happen cause I become distracted by other projects.


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